Scanning Microscope Image Correction During Stage Displacement
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional imaging methods in scanning electron microscopes face challenges in acquiring clear images during stage displacement due to errors caused by physical factors, leading to blurred images and difficulties in irradiating the same location, especially at high magnifications required for detecting miniaturized defects.
Innovation Solution
The method involves calculating and correcting image shift quantities between acquired images during stage displacement, integrating them to reconfigure the image, allowing for image acquisition without halting the stage and maintaining focus, by grouping and integrating images to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio and calculate displacement quantities based on integrated images.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If the stage is halted at image acquisition positions to acquire clear images, then image clarity is improved, but observation efficiency deteriorates due to repeated halting and positioning
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables continuous image acquisition during stage displacement without halting. The field of view is continuously scanned and images are acquired throughout the displacement process, eliminating the need to stop at specific positions. This continuous operation maintains observation efficiency while producing usable images through subsequent processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces image processing as an intermediary step between raw image acquisition and final image delivery. By processing images that were acquired during continuous stage movement, the system mediates between the conflicting requirements of continuous operation and clear image delivery, producing corrected images that compensate for the motion artifacts.
2Productivity
If the stage is displaced continuously without halting, then observation efficiency is improved, but image quality deteriorates due to blurring in the displacement direction
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback by detecting the actual stage position during displacement and using this information to correct the acquired images. The stage position data feeds back into the image processing pipeline, allowing the system to compensate for displacement-induced blurring by aligning and correcting images based on their actual acquisition positions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical approach of halting the stage at precise positions with a computational approach. Instead of using mechanical positioning stops, the system uses image processing algorithms to correct for continuous motion, substituting computational correction for mechanical precision.
3Measurement precision
If high magnification is used to detect miniaturized defects, then detection capability is improved, but the impact of stage displacement errors deteriorates image accuracy
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses feedback from stage position detection to correct images at high magnification. By continuously monitoring stage position and feeding this information back into the image processing pipeline, the system can compensate for even small displacement errors that become significant at high magnification, maintaining both detection capability and position accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent performs preliminary detection of stage position during the image acquisition process itself, rather than relying on pre-positioning. The stage position is detected in real-time during displacement, and this information is used to correct images afterward, allowing high magnification imaging without requiring perfect pre-positioning.
Data Source
AI summary
A method which, while displacing the field-of-view, allows the image in a target area to be acquired without degradations such as out-of-focus of the image. Plural pieces of images are acquired before and after a target area while displacing the field-of-view. Next, these images are grouped into groups each of which includes several pieces of images, and integrated images on each group basis are created. Moreover, a relational expression is calculated which holds between image displacement quantity calculated by comparing the integrated images with each other and the number of the photographed pieces of images. Furthermore, image displacement quantities between the acquired plural pieces of images are calculated from this relational expression. Finally, these images are corrected by the amounts of these displacement quantities, then being integrated. This process allows reconfiguration of the image in the target area.