Multi-beam SEM Technology for High Throughput Imaging

Recent developments in a number of fields call for high-throughput, high-resolution imaging of large areas. Examples are reconstruction of macroscopic volumes of mouse brain tissue, or wafer defect inspection. To address these needs, we have developed a multi-beam, single column SEM which utilizes an array of 61 or 91 electron beams and detectors in parallel. The total possible detection speed of the multiple beam SEM is the single detection speed times the number of beams. In the same time a single beam SEM creates an image of several million pixels size, the multi-beam SEM produces between several hundred million and one billion pixels. Herein we demonstrate the capabilities of generating massive data sets using the multi-beam SEM on a variety of samples including brain tissue serial sections and semiconductor test wafers.