Electron microscope assembly for viewing the wafer plane image of an electron beam lithography tool

An electron microscope assembly suitable for enhancing an image of a lithography tool includes an electron microscope configured for positioning below a lithography stage of an e-beam lithography tool, the lithography stage of the e-beam lithography tool including an aperture for providing the microscope line-of-sight to the lithography optics of the lithography tool, a translation unit configured to selectively translate the microscope along the optical axis of the lithography optics of the lithography tool responsive to a translation control system, the translation unit further configured to position the microscope in an operational state such that the optics of the microscope are positioned proximate to the lithography optics, a docking unit configured to reversibly mechanically couple the microscope with the lithography tool, the microscope configured to magnify a virtual sample plane image generated by the lithography tool.