SEM computer problem on Wed. night

[Ofer Levi]

Hi all,
last night when I was preparing for writing on the Raith system, I was 
imaging a sample with the Raith SEM [10 KV, 30 micron aperture, sample is 
Quartz sample with ZEP 520 resist, and metal coating layer for conduction 
purposes].
At one point after about 1/2 hour of SEM usage, while I was using a high 
magnification to see features of 100 nm wide, the SEM computer suddenly 
crashed.  After restarting the SEM computer and logging in, I was able to 
resume operation as normal, get reasonable spot sizes in contamination dot 
burning, and write my job.  I have no indication for what caused this 
problem but it only happened last night once. I have written at least 10 
times on identical samples and had no problems, so probably it is not a 
sample related issue.

Any idea what may have caused it and how to avoid/overcome it ?
Thanks,
Ofer


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Ofer Levi,      Ph.D.
Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University
CIS-X Rm 310,  Stanford, CA 94305-4075

Phone:                             (650)723-0464 or 725-6907
Fax:                                              (650)723-4659
Adm. Asst.: Gail Chun-Creech                  Ph:  (650)723-0983
E-Mail:                          levi at snow.stanford.edu
Web page:               http://snow.stanford.edu/~levi/
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