JP2012074187A - Charged particle beam device and image data retrieval method - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a charged particle beam device and an image data retrieval method, by which a user can quickly retrieve desired image data.SOLUTION: The device comprises an operation log data creation part for storing an operation history of a user and creating operation log data; an extraction log data creation part for extracting only an item relating to an imaging condition from the operation log data to create extraction log data; an importance parameter setting part for setting an importance parameter for predetermined weighting to each item contained in the extraction log data; an importance calculation part for calculating an importance of the imaging data based on the extraction log data and the importance parameter and storing the imaging data provided with the importance in a storing device; and a retrieval part for retrieving a proper imaging data from the image data provided with the importance and stored in the storing device using at least the imaging condition of the imaging data or the importance inputted by the user as retrieval conditions.

Description

  The present invention relates to a charged particle beam apparatus and an image data search method, and more particularly to a charged particle beam apparatus including means for searching image data based on imaging conditions.

  In recent years, an increasing number of charged particle beam apparatuses are equipped with a storage device such as a personal computer (hereinafter referred to as “PC”) and a hard disk (hereinafter referred to as “HD”). The user operates the charged particle beam apparatus by inputting imaging conditions and the like to a PC that is an operation unit of the charged particle beam apparatus. Upon receiving the instruction, the charged particle beam apparatus acquires an image of the sample according to the imaging conditions. The obtained image is associated with imaging conditions at the time of sample observation such as sample name, acceleration voltage, and magnification, and file information such as file name, storage date and time, and storage destination folder name, and is transmitted to the HD as electronic data. These electronic data (hereinafter referred to as “image data”) are each stored as individual data in the HD, or are collectively stored in one image file. Thus, image data acquired under various samples and imaging conditions is accumulated in the HD.

  These image data are managed by a charged particle beam apparatus or general-purpose electronic data management software. Using this software, the user can simultaneously display image data and imaging conditions, and search for image data using the imaging conditions as search keys.

  In general, images are often acquired continuously while changing the imaging conditions for the same sample little by little, or adjusting to approach a certain target value, or replacing the sample under the same imaging conditions. For example, an image is acquired several times while gradually increasing the magnification of one sample or adjusting the value of the electron beam so that it is in focus. When the sample is a plurality of isomorphic patterns formed on the wafer, images of the plurality of samples are acquired under the same imaging conditions while moving the position of the sample.

  As described above, in HD, there are often a plurality of groups of image data acquired continuously under similar samples or imaging conditions. In these groups, since it is difficult to distinguish between the imaging conditions and the sample names, it is difficult to search for a desired image from the image data stored in the HD.

  Further, it is difficult to restore the image data when it is deleted, and the HD mounted on the PC has a large capacity. Therefore, the user tends to leave unnecessary image data without deleting it. As a result, necessary data and unnecessary data are mixed, and it becomes increasingly difficult to search for target data.

  Patent Document 1 discloses a method of calling up and using a related image of observation image data when using the observation image data by associating and storing a reference image and a plurality of related images. Yes.

JP 2007-026885 A

  In a conventional search method, when a user searches for target image data from a large amount of image data, file information and imaging conditions are used as search keys. Therefore, in the image data of the same sample or similar imaging conditions, It is difficult to narrow down. To narrow down, image data must be compared manually.

  In Patent Document 1, it is possible to call up a related image of the observation image data after searching for the first observation image data. It is not described whether to search.

  Further, when it is desired to search for the most accurate image data, the imaging conditions to be input are often unknown, and it is difficult to narrow down even if file information and imaging conditions are input. In this case, it is necessary to open the image data in the image data group one by one and compare the images with each other.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and provides a charged particle beam apparatus that allows a user to quickly search for desired image data.

  In order to solve the above-described problem, the present invention is configured so that only important items such as imaging conditions are obtained from operation log data during a period from immediately after saving the n−1th acquired image data to saving the n + 1th acquired image data. Create excerpted log data, set importance parameters to determine important image data for each item of excerpted log data, calculate the importance from the extracted log data and importance parameters, and calculate the importance Is added to the nth acquired image data. At the time of the search, the importance of the image data input as the search key is compared with the importance assigned to the image data, and image data matching the input importance is narrowed down. The obtained search results are displayed on the screen.

  That is, the charged particle beam apparatus of the present invention is a charged particle beam apparatus including means for searching for desired image data from image data stored in a storage device, and records a user's operation history and an operation log. An operation log data creation unit that creates data, an excerpt log data creation unit that creates excerpt log data in which only items related to imaging conditions are excerpted from the operation log data, and predetermined items for each item included in the excerpt log data An importance parameter setting unit for setting an importance parameter for weighting, and based on the extracted log data and the importance parameter, the importance of the image data is calculated, and the image data to which the importance is assigned is calculated. The importance calculation unit stored in the storage device, and at least the imaging condition of the image data or the importance input by the user as a search condition, From the serial image data assigned with the importance level stored in the storage device, characterized by comprising a search unit to search for matching image data.

  The image data search method of the present invention is an image data search method for searching for desired image data from image data stored in a storage device in a charged particle beam device, comprising: A step of recording the operation history of the user and creating operation log data, a step of creating an excerpt log data in which the excerpt log data creation unit excises only items relating to imaging conditions from the operation log data, and an importance level A parameter setting unit that sets an importance parameter for applying a predetermined weight to each item included in the excerpt log data; and an importance calculation unit based on the excerpt log data and the importance parameter Calculating the importance of the image data, storing the image data with the importance in the storage device, and a search unit Searching for suitable image data from the image data assigned with the importance stored in the storage device, using at least the imaging condition of the image data or the importance input by the user as a search condition. Features.

  According to the present invention, a user can quickly search for desired image data. Further, it is possible to select necessary image data from the stored image data by referring to the importance assigned to the image data.

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a scanning electron microscope according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of a PC and a peripheral configuration diagram of the PC according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is an example of operation log data recording a user operation history according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is an example of excerpt log data extracted mainly from the operation log data according to the embodiment of the present invention relating to imaging conditions. FIG. 5 is an example of an importance parameter setting screen for the user to manually set the importance parameter according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart for assigning importance to image data according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is a display example of a search screen diagram for image data according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a display example of a search result screen diagram according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 9 is an example showing a relationship between image data and importance according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The present invention relates to a charged particle beam apparatus having means for searching for desired image data from image data stored in a storage device such as an HD using an image data imaging condition as a search condition, and an image data search method. is there. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, it should be noted that this embodiment is merely an example for carrying out the present invention, and does not limit the technical scope of the present invention. In each drawing, the same reference numerals are assigned to the common components. Hereinafter, a scanning electron microscope (hereinafter referred to as “SEM”) will be described as an example of a charged particle beam apparatus. However, a transmission electron microscope (TEM), an appearance inspection apparatus using an electron beam, a focused ion beam apparatus, etc. It can be applied to general charged particle beam devices that perform measurement, inspection, and processing.

<Configuration of SEM>
FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of an SEM according to an embodiment of the present invention. The SEM according to the embodiment of the present invention includes an electron optical system 100, an SEM control unit 101, and an SEM operation unit 102.

  The electron optical system 100 accelerates, deflects, or decelerates a sample stage 104 on which a sample 103 is placed, a stage control unit 105 that controls movement of the sample stage 104, an electron gun 107 that emits a primary electron beam 106, and a primary electron beam 106. The anode 108, the condenser lens 109, the deflector 110 and the objective lens 111, the deflection controller 112 that controls the deflector 110, the secondary electron detector 114 that detects the secondary electrons 113 emitted from the sample 103, and the secondary An amplifier 115 for amplifying electronic data from the electron detector 114 is provided.

  The SEM control unit 101 controls the image storage unit 116 that stores the image data from the amplifier 115, and the electron gun 107, the anode 108, the deflection control unit 112, the objective lens 111, the stage control unit 105, and the image storage unit 116. A main control unit 117 and an SEM dedicated operation panel 118 for directly operating the electron optical system 100 are provided.

  The SEM operation unit 102 performs a PC 119 communicating with the main control unit 117, a communication interface 120 between the main control unit 117 and the PC 119, a pointing device 121 such as a mouse and a keyboard, a GUI for operating the PC 119, and an image display. A display 122 is provided.

  The user operates the SEM by inputting information such as an imaging condition to the GUI and pointing device 121 displayed on the display 122 or the SEM dedicated operation panel 118. Upon receiving the instruction, the main control unit 117 controls the electron optical system 100 and transmits the image data stored in the image storage unit 116 to the PC 119.

  An instruction including imaging conditions from the user is transmitted from the main control unit 117 to each mechanism. The electron gun 107 emits the primary electron beam 106 according to the input current value. The anode 108 accelerates the primary electron beam according to the input acceleration voltage. The deflection control unit 112 supplies a predetermined deflection current to the deflector 110 according to the input set magnification. As a result, the primary electron beam 106 is deflected, and the surface of the sample 103 is secondarily scanned. The objective lens 111 converges the primary electron beam according to the input current value. The stage control unit 105 moves the sample stage 104 in the horizontal direction and the vertical direction according to the input coordinates. Thereby, the sample can be moved to an arbitrary position. Secondary electrons from the sample are detected by the secondary electron detector 114, amplified by the amplifier 115, converted into electronic data, and then transmitted to the main control unit 117 as image data. The image data is stored in the image storage unit 116, transmitted to the PC 119, and displayed on the display 122.

  The main control unit 117 that controls these mechanisms and the PC 119 that communicates with the main control unit 117 and analyzes the obtained image data are operable by a program. The program has a graphical user interface (hereinafter referred to as “GUI”). As a result, the user can check the state of each mechanism on the SEM dedicated operation panel 118 or the display 122, and can control each mechanism or instruct data analysis processing.

<Internal configuration of PC>
FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram and a peripheral configuration diagram of the PC 119 according to the embodiment of the present invention. Each mechanism described above and its connection relation are as described above.
The PC 119 includes a memory 200 and an HD 201.

  The memory 200 includes a command transmission / reception unit 202 that transmits / receives an operation input via the pointing device 121 and an operation input via the SEM dedicated operation panel 118, and an operation history when the command transmission / reception unit 202 communicates with the user. Are included in the extracted log data, the operation log data generating unit 203 that generates the operation log data, and the extracted log data generating unit 204 that extracts only the important operation such as the imaging condition from the operation log data and generates the extracted log data. For each item such as an imaging condition, an importance parameter setting unit 205 that sets an importance parameter, an importance calculation unit 206 that calculates importance from extracted log data and importance parameters, and a search unit 207 that searches image data are provided. .

  The HD 201 includes an imaging condition storage unit 208 that stores the imaging conditions received by the command transmission / reception unit 202, an operation log data storage unit 209 that stores operation log data from the operation log data generation unit 203, and an excerpt log data generation unit 204. Excerpt log data storage unit 210 that stores excerpt log data from, an importance parameter storage unit 211 that stores an importance parameter from the importance parameter setting unit 205, and an importance level that stores the importance level from the importance calculation unit 206 The storage unit 212 includes an importance-added image data storage unit 213 that stores image data to which importance is given.

  Generally, operation log data is used when performing maintenance, inspection, and troubleshooting of a charged particle beam apparatus. On the other hand, in the present invention, attention is paid to the fact that a predetermined tendency appears in the operation log data recorded until one piece of image data is saved, according to the characteristics of the image data. It was also noted that a predetermined tendency appears in the operation log data recorded until the next image data is saved depending on the characteristics of the image data saved immediately before. In other words, the feature (importance) of the nth image data can be estimated by analyzing the operation log data of the nth stored image data. Further, if the operation log data of the nth and n + 1th stored image data is analyzed, the feature (importance) of the nth image data becomes clearer. Therefore, create excerpt log data that extracts only important items such as imaging conditions from the operation log data of the above period, set the importance parameter to determine important image data for each item of excerpt log data, The importance is calculated from the extracted log data and the importance parameter, and the importance is given to the nth acquired image data. At the time of the search, the importance of the image data input as the search key is compared with the importance assigned to the image data, and image data matching the input importance is narrowed down. The obtained search results are displayed on the screen.

<Create operation log data>
FIG. 3 is an example of operation log data recording a user operation history according to the embodiment of the present invention. The operation log data is created by the operation log data creation unit 203 and stored in the operation log data storage unit 206. The operation log data 300 includes a communication history and operation history 301 between each mechanism, a date 302, and a time 303.

  Hereinafter, in order to simplify the description, the n-th image data is assumed to be the n-th acquired image data (1 ≦ n). Further, it is assumed that acquisition and storage of image data correspond one-to-one, and the nth acquired image data is stored as the nth image data. The nth operation log data is the nth image data (including the imaging conditions) immediately after the n−1th image data (including the imaging conditions) is stored among all the operation log data. The operation log data is recorded until it is saved.

  FIG. 3 shows a high magnification and high accuracy in order to investigate in detail a place where a foreign object is found after storing the first image data to roughly grasp the whole image of a sample, for example, in a semiconductor inspection. The operation log data when the second image data is saved. Therefore, for the purpose of roughly grasping the entire image of the sample, the history of “stage movement”, “automatic brightness adjustment”, and “automatic focus adjustment” before saving the first image data (304 in the figure). Is left. In addition, for the purpose of investigating the location where a foreign object is found in detail, after saving the first image data (305 in the figure), the history of “magnification”, “manual focus adjustment”, and “manual brightness adjustment” Is left.

  Therefore, if the operation log data of the nth image data is analyzed, the characteristics of the image data can be estimated. For example, the first image data is mainly adjusted by moving the stage and automatically, so there is a high possibility that the accuracy of the image quality is low. On the other hand, the second image data includes manual adjustment several times, so that there is a high possibility that the image quality accuracy is high.

  Further, by analyzing the history of the nth image data before and after storage, that is, the nth and n + 1th operation log data, the characteristics of the nth image data can be estimated in more detail. For example, when the first operation log data includes stage movement and automatic adjustment, and the second operation log data includes manual adjustment, the first image data is image data of the entire sample. There is a high possibility.

  Furthermore, the second operation log data in the figure includes manual adjustments several times. However, if the third operation log data (not shown) includes “stage movement”, the second operation log data includes the second operation log data. The image data is likely to satisfy both focus and accuracy. Conversely, if manual adjustment is again included in the third operation log data, the third image data is likely to be more satisfactory than the second image data in terms of focus and accuracy.

<Creation of excerpt log data>
FIG. 4 is an example of excerpt log data extracted mainly from the operation log data 300 according to the embodiment of the present invention relating to imaging conditions. Here, the imaging conditions are extracted from the operation log data, but the present invention is not limited to this as long as it determines the characteristics of the image data. The excerpt log data is created by the excerpt log data creation unit 204, is associated with the image data, and is saved in the excerpt log data storage unit 210. FIG. 4A shows operation log data 300 extracted from the first operation log data in the operation log data 300 of FIG. 3 and is the first extracted log data 401. FIG. 4B shows the operation log data 300 extracted from the second operation log data in the operation log data 300 of FIG. In the excerpt log data 401 and 402, an image data number 403 is described.

<Setting importance parameter>
FIG. 5 is an example of an importance parameter setting screen for the user to manually set the importance parameter according to the embodiment of the present invention.

  The importance parameter setting screen 500 includes a setting item 501 corresponding to each item of the excerpt log data, an importance parameter 502 of the nth image data, an importance parameter 503 of the (n + 1) th image data, and an OK button 504. For each item of the setting item 501, the user selects importance parameters 502 and 503 to be added to the image data from the list included in the importance list display button 505, and determines with the OK button 504.

  The setting item 501 corresponds to each item of the excerpt log data, and includes acceleration voltage, magnification, brightness (automatic), brightness (manual), focus (automatic), focus (manual), beam deflection, and stage movement.

  It can be said that image data is more important as it has higher accuracy such as brightness and focus, and is more important to preserve. For this reason, the importance parameter is set higher for operations that contribute to the image quality of image data and operations that are repeatedly adjusted. Therefore, in FIG. 5, brightness (manual) and focus (manual) are set to “high”, and brightness (automatic) and focus (automatic) are set to “low”. However, the setting method is not limited to this. As shown in FIG. 5, the importance parameters 502 and 503 of the nth and n + 1th image data are usually the same, but they may be different.

  The set importance parameter is associated with the image data and stored in the importance parameter storage unit 211.

  Here, the importance parameters 502 and 503 are set to “high”, “medium”, and “low”, but the present invention is not limited to this, and numerical values or symbols may be input. Further, the setting item 501 is not limited to the description in the figure, and the user may arbitrarily add or delete the setting item 501.

  Further, although the case where the user manually sets the importance parameter has been described, the importance parameter setting unit 205 can also set it automatically. For example, statistical processing is performed on the relationship between the excerpt log data and the image data for each user, for each sample name, for each imaging condition, for each operation count, or for each operation time, and the most important from the obtained excerpt log data. A degree parameter may be added.

<Give importance to image data>
Next, processing for assigning importance to image data based on the set importance parameters 502 and 503 and extracted log data will be described.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for assigning importance to image data according to the embodiment of the present invention. The subject here is the importance calculation unit 206.

  In step S <b> 601, the importance parameter 502 of the nth image data is read from the importance parameter storage unit 211.

  In S602, the nth excerpt log data is read from the excerpt log data storage unit 210.

  In S603, the importance level of the nth image data is calculated from the read excerpt log data and the importance level parameter. For example, if the importance parameter 502 is “low”, 1 point is given to each item of the excerpt log data, 3 points if it is “medium”, and 6 points if it is “high”. And In addition to the point addition method, a point reduction method may be employed. As described above, the importance level depends on the setting value of the importance level parameter and the number of items of the extracted log data. In the example of FIGS. 4 and 5, the importance is 8. The calculated importance is stored in the importance storage unit 212.

  In S604, the importance of the nth image data calculated in S603 is assigned to the nth image data. Here, the image data to which the degree of importance is given may be raw image data that has been captured in advance and stored in the image storage unit 116, or may be data that has not yet been stored after capturing (imaging data).

  In step S <b> 605, the nth image data or imaging data to which importance is given in step S <b> 604 is stored in the importance-added image data storage unit 213.

  In S606, it is determined whether or not the (n + 1) th image data is stored. If the image data is stored, the processing of S607 to 611 is performed. If there is no image data, the processing from S612 is performed.

  In S607, if there is an importance parameter 503 of the (n + 1) th image data from the importance parameter storage unit 211, it is read. Usually, the importance parameter of the (n + 1) th image data is the same as the importance parameter of the nth image data read in S601.

  In step S <b> 608, the (n + 1) th extracted log data is read from the extracted log data storage unit 210.

  In step S609, the importance level of the (n + 1) th image data is calculated from the read excerpt log data and the importance level parameter. The calculation method is the same as S603. In the example of FIGS. 4 and 5, the importance is 20. The calculated importance is stored in the importance storage unit 212.

  In S610, the importance of the (n + 1) th image data calculated in S609 is assigned to the nth image data or the imaging data.

  In step S611, the n-th image data or imaging data to which importance is given in step S610 is overwritten and stored in the importance-added image data storage unit 213. As a result, the importance of the nth and n + 1th image data is given to the nth image data. Note that the importance level stored in the importance level storage unit 212 may be associated with the image data stored in the image storage unit 116 or another location in the HD 201 without directly assigning the level of importance to the image data.

  In S612, when it is determined in S606 that there is no n + 1-th image data, the user is inquired whether or not to continue imaging. When the imaging is not continued, since the (n + 1) th image data is not saved, the importance assignment to the nth image data is finished. In this case, only the importance of the nth image data is given to the nth image data.

  In step S613, in order to continue imaging, the process waits until the (n + 1) th image data is saved. Alternatively, a predetermined time may be set and wait for that period. After this processing, the process returns to S606.

  Note that, with respect to past image data stored without assigning importance, importance can be assigned to the image data by the same processing as described above based on the operation log data of the image data.

<Search image data>
Next, a method for searching for desired image data from the image data stored in the post-importance image data storage unit 213 will be described.

  FIG. 7 is a display example of a search screen diagram for image data according to the embodiment of the present invention. The search screen diagram 700 includes a search item 704 having an imaging condition 701, file information 702, and importance 703, a search condition 705 for each search item, and a search button 706 for starting a search. The imaging condition 701 includes a sample name, acceleration voltage, magnification, and an arbitrary keyword, and the file information 702 includes a file name, a storage date / time, and a storage destination folder name. Also, as the importance 703, the importance of the nth image data, the importance of the (n + 1) th image data, or the total thereof can be input.

  When the user inputs a search condition 705 or the like in the search item 704 and presses the search button 706, the information given to the image data by the charged particle beam apparatus-dedicated or general-purpose electronic data management software, and the input information Are compared. As a result of the comparison, image data that matches or is closest to the input information is displayed in a list on the display 122.

  FIG. 8 is a display example of a search result screen diagram of image data according to the embodiment of the present invention. The search result screen diagram 800 includes a search result number 801, image data thumbnails 802 to 806, and display items 807 displayed on the image data thumbnails.

  In the search screen of FIG. 7, the importance of the nth image data is set to 10 or more. Thereby, only highly accurate image data is narrowed down in the search result of FIG. Further, if the importance of the (n + 1) -th image data in FIG. 7 is set to less than 10, for example, the possibility that the image data is more accurate with respect to brightness, focus, and the like increases.

  In the search result of FIG. 8, the higher the importance, the larger the image data is displayed. In the image data, display items including imaging conditions, file information, and importance are displayed.

  As a result, the user can quickly search for desired image data. In addition, it is possible to select necessary data from the stored image data by referring to information displayed together with the image data. For example, when it is desired to search high-precision image data, a desired image can be narrowed down by inputting a high importance level even if the search condition to be input is not known.

  Furthermore, if image data having a predetermined importance or less is automatically deleted by using a dedicated particle beam apparatus or general-purpose electronic data management software, the total number of image data can be reduced, and inspection efficiency can be improved.

  In FIG. 7, the importance level is directly input as a numerical value. However, when the importance level value is not known, a screen for calculating the same importance level as in FIG. 5 may be additionally displayed.

  FIG. 9 is an example showing a relationship between image data and importance according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, based on the importance parameter set in FIG. 5, the whole image after moving the sample (n = 1), the enlarged image of the whole image of n = 1 (n = 2), and the correction of the enlarged image of n = 2. (N = 3), the overall image after moving the sample (n = 4), and the magnified image (n = 5) of the entire image of n = 4 in the order of saving the image data, and calculating the importance in the table It is a summary. As shown in the figure, the importance level is less than 10 in the whole image after moving the sample, the importance level is about 10 to 20 in the enlarged image, and the importance level is 20 or more when the enlarged image is corrected and re-taken. . Thus, the degree of importance increases according to the accuracy of the image data. When retrieving the most accurate image data from the image data, the importance of the nth image data may be simply set to 20 or more. In addition to the importance of the nth image data, if the importance of the (n + 1) th image data is less than 10, highly accurate image data (n = 3) can be narrowed down more reliably.

<Summary>
The present invention creates excerpt log data excerpting imaging conditions and the like from the operation log data of the nth and n + 1st image data, and sets an importance parameter for determining important image data for each item of excerpt log data. It is set, the importance is calculated from the extracted log data and the importance parameter, and the importance is given to the nth acquired image data. At the time of the search, the importance of the image data input as the search key is compared with the importance assigned to the image data, and image data matching the input importance is narrowed down. The obtained search results are displayed on the screen.

  In this case, the importance calculated in the same manner may be assigned to the image data based on the operation log data of the image data for the past image data stored without the importance assigned.

  As a result, the user can quickly search for desired image data. Further, it is possible to select necessary data from the stored image data by referring to the importance assigned to the image data. Also, for example, when searching for highly accurate image data, a desired image can be searched by inputting a high importance level even if the search condition to be input is not known.

In this case, image data having a predetermined importance or less may be automatically deleted by a dedicated particle beam apparatus or general-purpose electronic data management software.
Thereby, the total number of image data is reduced, and inspection efficiency can be improved.

100 Electron Optical System 101 SEM Control Unit 102 SEM Operation Unit 103 Sample 104 Sample Stage 105 Stage Control Unit 106 Primary Electron Beam 107 Electron Gun 108 Anode 109 Condenser Lens 110 Deflector 111 Objective Lens 112 Deflection Control Unit 113 Secondary Electron 114 Secondary Electron detector 115 Amplifier 116 Image storage unit 117 Main control unit 118 SEM dedicated operation panel 119 PC
120 Communication Interface 121 Pointing Device 122 Display 200 Memory 201 HD
202 Command transmission / reception unit 203 Operation log data creation unit 204 Extract log creation unit 205 Importance parameter setting unit 206 Importance calculation unit 207 Search unit 208 Imaging condition storage unit 209 Operation log data storage unit 210 Extract log data storage unit 211 Important Degree parameter storage unit 212 importance level storage unit 213 image data storage unit with importance level

Claims (7)

A charged particle beam device comprising means for retrieving desired image data from image data stored in a storage device,
An operation log data creation unit that records user operation history and creates operation log data;
An excerpt log data creation unit for creating excerpt log data excerpting only items relating to imaging conditions from the operation log data;
An importance parameter setting unit for setting an importance parameter for giving a predetermined weight to each item included in the excerpt log data;
Based on the excerpt log data and the importance parameter, the importance calculation unit calculates the importance of the image data, and stores the image data assigned the importance in the storage device;
A search unit for searching for suitable image data from the image data to which the importance level stored in the storage device is assigned, using at least the imaging condition of the image data or the importance level input by the user as a search condition; Charged particle beam device characterized by the above. The excerpt log data creation unit creates excerpt log data related to the nth image data and excerpt log data related to the n + 1st image data from the operation log data,
The importance calculation unit calculates the importance by summing the number of items included in the nth and n + 1th excerpt log data multiplied by the importance parameter corresponding to the item. The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1.   2. The importance parameter setting unit sets the importance parameter high for items that contribute to the accuracy of the image data and items that are included in the excerpt log data a predetermined number of times or more. Charged particle beam equipment.   The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the search unit automatically deletes image data having an importance level equal to or less than a predetermined value.   2. The search unit according to claim 1, wherein when searching for the nth image data, the search unit searches for the image data based on the importance of the nth image data and the importance of the (n + 1) th image data. The charged particle beam apparatus described.   The charged particle beam apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the importance parameter setting unit is capable of separately setting importance parameters for the n-th image data and the n + 1-th image data. In a charged particle beam device, a search method for image data for searching for desired image data from image data stored in a storage device,
An operation log data creation unit records a user's operation history and creates operation log data;
An excerpt log data creation unit creating excerpt log data in which only items relating to imaging conditions are excised from the operation log data;
An importance parameter setting unit setting an importance parameter for predetermined weighting for each item included in the excerpt log data;
An importance calculating unit calculating the importance of the image data based on the excerpt log data and the importance parameter, and storing the image data assigned the importance in the storage device;
A search unit searching for suitable image data from image data assigned with the importance stored in the storage device, using at least the imaging condition of the image data or the importance input by the user as a search condition; A method for retrieving image data, comprising:

Images