Abstract: A method of accumulating an image of a specimen using a scanning-type microscope, comprising the following steps: Providing a beam of radiation that is directed from a source through an illuminator so as to irradiate the specimen; Providing a detector for detecting a flux of radiation emanating from the specimen in response to said irradiation; Causing said beam to undergo scanning motion relative to a surface of the specimen, and recording an output of the detector as a function of scan position, which method additionally comprises the following steps: In a first sampling session S1gathering detector data from a first collection P1 of sampling points distributed sparsely across the specimen; Repeating this procedure so as to accumulate a set {Pn} of such collections, gathered during an associated set {Sn} of sampling sessions, each set with a cardinality N>1; Assembling an image of the specimen by using the set {Pn} as input to an integrative mathematical reconstruction procedure, wherein, as part of

Abstract: A multi-beam apparatus for inspecting or processing a sample with a multitude of focused beams uses a multitude of detectors for detecting secondary radiation emitted by the sample when is irradiated by the multitude of beams. Each detector signal comprises information caused by multiple beams, the apparatus equipped with a programmable controller for processing the multitude of detector signals to a multitude of output signals, using weight factors so that each output signal represents information caused by a single beam. The weight factors are dynamic weight factors depending on the scan position of the beams with respect to the detectors and the distance between sample and detectors.

Abstract: Examining a sample in a charged-particle microscope of a scanning transmission type includes: Providing a beam of charged particles that is directed from a source through an illuminator so as to irradiate the sample; Providing a detector for detecting a flux of charged particles traversing the sample; Causing said beam to scan across a surface of the sample, and recording an output of the detector as a function of scan position, resulting in accumulation of a charged-particle image of the sample, Embodying the detector to comprise a plurality of detection segments; Combining signals from different segments of the detector so as to produce a vector output from the detector at each scan position, and compiling this data to yield a vector field; and Mathematically processing said vector field by subjecting it to a two-dimensional integration operation, thereby producing an integrated vector field image.

Abstract: A method of examining a sample using a charged-particle microscope, comprising mounting the sample on a sample holder; using a particle-optical column to direct at least one beam of particulate radiation onto a surface S of the sample, thereby producing an interaction that causes emitted radiation to emanate from the sample; using a detector arrangement to detect at least a portion of said emitted radiation, the method of which comprises embodying the detector arrangement to detect electrons in the emitted radiation; recording an output On of said detector arrangement as a function of kinetic energy En of said electrons, thus compiling a measurement set M={(On, En)} for a plurality of values of En; using computer processing apparatus to automatically deconvolve the measurement set M and spatially resolve it into a result set R?{(Vk, Lk)}, in which a spatial variable V demonstrates a value Vk at an associated discrete depth level Lk referenced to the surface S, whereby n and k are members of an integer sequenc

Abstract: A method of examining a sample using a charged-particle microscope, comprising mounting the sample on a sample holder; using a particle-optical column to direct at least one beam of particulate radiation onto a surface S of the sample, thereby producing an interaction that causes emitted radiation to emanate from the sample; using a detector arrangement to detect at least a portion of said emitted radiation, the method of which comprises embodying the detector arrangement to detect electrons in the emitted radiation; recording an output On of said detector arrangement as a function of kinetic energy En of said electrons, thus compiling a measurement set M={(On, En)} for a plurality of values of En; using computer processing apparatus to automatically deconvolve the measurement set M and spatially resolve it into a result set R={(Vk, Lk)}, in which a spatial variable V demonstrates a value Vk at an associated discrete depth level Lk referenced to the surface S, whereby n and k are members of an integer sequenc

Abstract: This invention relates to a method of examining a sample using a charged-particle microscope. This invention solves the problem of occlusion effects, whereby a given line-of-sight behind a particular region on a sample and a given detector is blocked by a topographical feature on the sample, thus hampering detection of the emitted radiation emanating from the occluded region. This problem is solved by using at least a first and second detector configuration to detect each portion of the emitted radiation and to produce at least a first and second corresponding image based thereupon; and using computer processing apparatus to automatically compare different members of the set of corresponding images and mathematically identify on the sample at least one occlusion region with an occluded line-of-sight relative to at least one of the detector configurations.

Abstract: A method of charged-particle microscopy, comprising: irradiating a sample surface S to cause radiation to emanate from the sample; detecting at least a portion of said emitted radiation recording an output On of said detector arrangement as a function of emergence angle ?n of said emitted radiation, measured relative to an axis normal to S thus compiling a measurement set M={(On, ?n)} for a plurality of values of ?n; automatically deconvolving the measurement set M and spatially resolve it into a result set R={(VK, Lk)},in which a spatial variable V demonstrates a value Vk at an associated discrete death level Lk referenced to the surface S, whereby n and K are members of an integer sequence, and spatial variable V represents a physical property of the sample as a function of position in its bulk.

Abstract: A charged-particle microscopy includes irradiating a sample in measurement sessions, each having an associated beam parameter (P) value detecting radiation emitted during each measurement session, associating a measurand (M) with each measurement session, thus providing a data set (S) of data pairs {Pn, Mn}, wherein an integer in the range of 1?n?N, and processing the set (S) by: defining a Point Spread Function (K) having a kernel value Kn for each value n; defining a spatial variable (V); defining an imaging quantity (Q) having fore each value of n a value Qn that is a three-dimensional convolution of Kn and V, such that Qn=Kn*V; for each value of n, determining a minimum divergence min D(Mn?Kn*V) between Mn and Qn, solving V while applying constraints on the values Kn.

Abstract: A method of examining a sample using a charged-particle microscope, comprising mounting the sample on a sample holder; using a particle-optical column to direct at least one beam of particulate radiation onto a surface S of the sample, thereby producing an interaction that causes emitted radiation to emanate from the sample; using a detector arrangement to detect at least a portion of said emitted radiation, the method of which comprises embodying the detector arrangement to detect electrons in the emitted radiation; recording an output On of said detector arrangement as a function of kinetic energy En of said electrons, thus compiling a measurement set M={(On, En)} for a plurality of values of En; using computer processing apparatus to automatically deconvolve the measurement set M and spatially resolve it into a result set R={(Vk, Lk)}, in which a spatial variable V demonstrates a value Vk at an associated discrete depth level Lk referenced to the surface S, whereby n and k are members of an integer sequenc

Abstract: A method of examining a sample using a charged-particle microscope, comprising the following steps: Mounting the sample on a sample holder; Using a particle-optical column to direct at least one beam of particulate radiation onto a surface S of the sample, thereby producing an interaction that causes emitted radiation to emanate from the sample; Using a detector arrangement to detect at least a portion of said emitted radiation, which method comprises the following steps: Recording an output On of said detector arrangement as a function of emergence angle ?n of said emitted radiation, measured relative to an axis normal to S, thus compiling a measurement set M={(On, ?n)} for a plurality of values of ?n; Using computer processing apparatus to automatically deconvolve the measurement set M and spatially resolve it into a result set R={(Vk, Lk)}, in which a spatial variable V demonstrates a value Vk at an associated discrete depth level Lk referenced to the surface S, whereby n and k are members of an intege

Abstract: Charged-particle microscopy includes irradiating a sample in N measurement sessions, each having an associated beam parameter (P) value; Detecting radiation emitted during each measurement session, associating a measurand (M) with each measurement session, thus providing a data set (S) of data pairs {Pn, Mn}, where n is an integer in the range 1?n?N, and processing the set (S) by: Defining a Point Spread Function (K) having a kernel value Kn for each value of n; Defining a spatial variable (V); Defining an imaging quantity (Q) having for each value of n a value Qn that is a three-dimensional convolution of Kn and V, such that Qn=Kn*V; For each value of n, determining a minimum divergence min D(Mn?Kn*V) between Mn and Qn, solving for V while applying constraints on the values Kn.

Abstract: Window based matching is used for determining a depth map from images obtained from different orientations. A set of fixed matching windows is used for points of the image for which the depth is to be determined. The set of matching windows covers a footprint of pixels around the point of the image, and the average number (O) of matching windows that a pixel of the footprint (FP) belongs to is less than one plus the number of pixels in the footprint divided by 15 (O<FP/15+1), preferably less than one plus the number of pixels in the footprint divided by 25 (O<FP/25+1).

Abstract: This invention relates to a method of examining a sample using a charged-particle microscope. This invention solves the problem of occlusion effects, whereby a given line-of-sight behind a particular region on a sample and a given detector is blocked by a topographical feature on the sample, thus hampering detection of the emitted radiation emanating from the occluded region. This problem is solved by using at least a first and second detector configuration to detect each portion of the emitted radiation and to produce at least a first and second corresponding image based thereupon; and using computer processing apparatus to automatically compare different members of the set of corresponding images and mathematically identify on the sample at least one occlusion region with an occluded line-of-sight relative to at least one of the detector configurations.

Abstract: A method of investigating a sample using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), comprising the following steps: Irradiating a surface (S) of the sample using a probing electron beam in a plurality (N) of measurement sessions, each measurement session having an associated beam parameter (P) value that is chosen from a range of such values and that differs between measurement sessions; Detecting stimulated radiation emitted by the sample during each measurement session, associating a measurand (M) therewith and noting the value of this measurand for each measurement session, thus allowing compilation of a data set (D) of data pairs (Pi, Mi), where 1?i?N, wherein: A statistical Blind Source Separation (BSS) technique is employed to automatically process the data set (D) and spatially resolve it into a result set (R) of imaging pairs (Qk, Lk), in which an imaging quantity (Q) having value Qk is associated with a discrete depth level Lk referenced to the surface S.

Abstract: A method of investigating a sample using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), comprising the following steps: Irradiating a surface (S) of the sample using a probing electron beam in a plurality (N) of measurement sessions, each measurement session having an associated beam parameter (P) value that is chosen from a range of such values and that differs between measurement sessions; Detecting stimulated radiation emitted by the sample during each measurement session, associating a measurand (M) therewith and noting the value of this measurand for each measurement session, thus allowing compilation of a data set (D) of data pairs (Pi, Mi), where 1?i?N, wherein: A statistical Blind Source Separation (BSS) technique is employed to automatically process the data set (D) and spatially resolve it into a result set (R) of imaging pairs (Qk, Lk), in which an imaging quantity (Q) having value Qk is associated with a discrete depth level Lk referenced to the surface S.

Abstract: The invention concerns a method for recovery, through a digital filtering processing, of the disparities (di,k) in the digital images (1, 2; 10, 20) of a video stream containing digitized images formed of lines of pixels, so that data on the disparities (di,k) between images are yielded by the digital filtering processing. The method includes an initial stage of determination of image sites (i, j) to be pinpointed in depth, and the filtering being a recursive filtering calculating the disparities (di,k) between said sites (i, j) of said images (1, 2; 10, 20) on the basis of weighted averaging (?i,k) governed simultaneously (1) by the characteristics (ci,1, cj,1) of the pixels of the sites (i, j) and by the image similarities between said sites (j) and sites (j?) close to said sites. The quality of the convergence of the filtering may be enhanced by adding at each iteration (k) a small random excitation (?i,k) to the depth estimate (?i,k) deduced from the disparity (di,k).

Abstract: Window based matching is used for determining a depth map from images obtained from different orientations. A set of fixed matching windows is used for points of the image for which the depth is to be determined. The set of matching windows covers a footprint of pixels around the point of the image, and the average number (0) of matching windows that a pixel of the footprint (FP) belongs to is less than one plus the number of pixels in the footprint divided by 15 (0<FP/15+1), preferably less than one plus the number of pixels in the footprint divided by 25 (0<FP/25+1).