Some limitations of surface profile reconstruction in scanning electron microscopy

Czepkowshi, T.; Słówko, W.

doi:10.1002/sca.1996.4950180606

Cited by 21 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 7 publications

(7 reference statements)

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“…2a). The current I A,B of SEs flowing (along the straight trajectories) to one of the opposite detectors (A or B) can be described by the formula (Czepkowski & Słówko, 1996): and after further mathematical operations takes the form: where Ω A ,… are electron detection solid angles, ϕ p , θ p are the surface inclination angle and azimuth angle, γ is the electron emission angle, i 0 is the angular current density at ϕ p = 0 (proportional to the coefficient of SE emission δ o ), n depends on a material, and n ≈ 1 for materials with medium atomic numbers, about 30. Successively, c A,B and d A,B are coefficients depending on the detector geometry, defined as: …”

Section: Surface Topography Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The authors have developed a multiple detector system based on a quadruple Everhart–Thornley unit for SEs (Slówko, 1999; Slówko & Drzazga, 2000), though a four‐quadrant backscattered electron (BSE) detector is also a good option (Pintus et al , 2005). This time, the mathematical model developed earlier (Czepkowski & Słówko, 1996) was a basis for the errors analysis resulting in proper formulas and algorithms of their compensation realized by a computer (Paluszynski & Slówko, 2005; Drzazga et al , 2006; Paluszynski & Slówko, 2006). Measurements of the surface roughness are a useful addition to the fully 3D imaging.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Measurements of the surface microroughness with the scanning electron microscope

Paluszyński

Słówko

2009

Journal of Microscopy

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SummaryA three-dimensional reconstruction system for scanning electron microscope consisting of a quadruple scintillator detector, a four-channel frame-grabber and PC-based processing unit was developed. The authors explored a method that takes advantage of the angular distribution of secondary electron emission to obtain quantitative topography contrast and surface profiles. Software processing algorithms were developed to carry out the reconstruction process and compensate for several types of errors, inherent in the method. After pre-calibration, the system allows obtaining surface topography with calculation of microroughness and waviness statistical parameters. The roughness estimation procedure was tested on metal roughness standards for machining and etched silicon surfaces. The main advantages of the system are almost real-time operation and reliable, compositionindependent reconstruction for a broad class of materials.

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Section: Surface Topography Reconstructionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Measurements of the surface microroughness with the scanning electron microscope

Paluszyński

Słówko

2009

Journal of Microscopy

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“…Applying model (9) to a measured BSE image (BL or BR) at each point (pixel), we could estimate the underlying corresponding shadowless BSE image intensities from the measured ones, provided the shadowing angles for each point are known. Furthermore, there is no need to treat the points with shadowing errors separately from those without such errors, since the image intensity at a point without a shadowing effect (shadowing angles should be zero after implementation of the thresholding operator) remains the same after applying (9). Therefore, in contrast to a literature example [11], this case does not require an image segmentation process to extract shadowing regions, which is generally very difficult to implement.…”

Section: Modified Shadowing Compensation Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Robust Surface Reconstruction in SEM Using Two BSE Detectors

Chen

Miyamoto

Kaneko

2013

IEICE Trans. Inf. & Syst.

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Deshan CHEN†a) , Nonmember, Atsushi MIYAMOTO † †b) , and Shun'ichi KANEKO †c) , Members SUMMARY This paper describes a robust three-dimensional (3D) surface reconstruction method that can automatically eliminate shadowing errors. For modeling shadowing effect, a new shadowing compensation model based on the angle distribution of backscattered electrons is introduced. Further, it is modified with respect to some practical factors. Moreover, the proposed iterative shadowing compensation method, which performs commutatively between the compensation of image intensities and the modification of the corresponding 3D surface, can effectively provide both an accurate 3D surface and compensated shadowless images after convergence. key words: scanning electron microscope (SEM), surface reconstruction, shadowing compensation, backscattering electron IntroductionThe scanning electron microscope (SEM) is a very important tool for observing micro-structure and has been widely used in the areas of medical observation, semiconductors, material analysis, etc. The need for three-dimensional (3D) surface measurements is significantly increasing. For instance, 3D surface information can provide valuable clues for inspecting and analyzing defects in products of semiconductor manufacturing processes, such as recognition of device patterns and defect regions, classification of defects in terms of the processes responsible for their generation (surface/embedded defects [1]) and the impact on electric properties (volume or shorting/disconnection defect), and specification and control of the issue process, etc.Attempts have been made to transform SEM into a 3D measuring tool for almost 30 years, and scientific research on 3D surface reconstruction in SEM continues to be intensively studied. Different approaches, which can be broadly classified into two groups, have been utilized. One popular group is generally referred to as the "stereometric" method [2]- [4], in which a pair of stereo images of a specimen at different inclination angles are taken, and the height or depth is determined by measuring the deviations of corresponding points on the two images. However, this method can only be applied to the measurements of surface points Manuscript received November 20, 2012. Manuscript revised April 19, 2013. † The authors are with the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Sapporo-shi, 060-0814 Japan.† † The author is with the Yokohama Research Laboratory, Hitachi, Ltd., Yokohama-shi, 244-0817 Japan.a) E-mail: chen@ssc.ssi.ist.hokudai.ac.jp b) E-mail: atsushi.miyamoto.ts@hitachi.com c) E-mail: kaneko@ssi.ist.hokudai.ac. where recognizable fine structures exist. In general, it cannot be used on smooth surfaces or to reconstruct a continuous surface profile at high magnification. The second group of approaches is the so-called "shape from shading" or "photometric stereo" method [5]- [10], in which multiple secondary or backscattered electron detectors (generally two or four) are symmetrically positioned a...

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“…This is the so-called "shape from shading" problem, well studied in the computer vision literature (Zhang, 1999). However, applying such computer vision techniques to SEM images yields unreliable results (Czepkowshi, 1996). In this chapter we propose a semi-automated approach to measuring nanofibrils with high accuracy.…”

Section: Quantification Of Fibril Lengthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Characterisation of Kraft Pulp Fibres and Their Nanofibrillated Materials for Biodegradable Composite Applications

Chinga-Carrasco¹,

Miettinen²,

Hendriks³

et al. 2011

Nanocomposites and Polymers With Analytical Methods

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Some limitations of surface profile reconstruction in scanning electron microscopy

Cited by 21 publications

References 7 publications

Measurements of the surface microroughness with the scanning electron microscope

Measurements of the surface microroughness with the scanning electron microscope

Robust Surface Reconstruction in SEM Using Two BSE Detectors

Structural Characterisation of Kraft Pulp Fibres and Their Nanofibrillated Materials for Biodegradable Composite Applications

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