STAGE APPARATUS SUITABLE FOR A PARTICLE BEAM APPARATUS

A particle beam apparatus comprises a conductive object (402) and an object table (404), the object table being configured to support an object (414). The object table comprises a table body and a conductive coating (420), the conductive coating being provided on at least a portion of a surface of the table body. The conductive object is disposed proximate to the conductive coating and the table body is provided with a feature (502) proximate to an edge portion of the conductive coating. Said feature is arranged so as to reduce an electric field strength in the vicinity of the edge portion of the conductive coating when a voltage is applied to both the conductive object and the conductive coating. 粒子束装置包括导电物体(402)和载物台(404)，载物台被配置为支撑物体(414)。载物台包括台体和导电涂层(420)，导电涂层被提供在台体的表面的至少一部分上。导电物体被设置为与导电涂层邻近并且台体被提供有与导电涂层的边缘部分邻近的特征(502)。该特征被布置为使得当电压被施加到导电物体和导电涂层两者时，降低导电涂层的边缘部分的附近区域的电场强度。