Abstract: There is provided a system and method of a method of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element; extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation; estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to local shape deviation of the actual contour; and performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

Abstract: There is provided a system and method of a method of detecting a local shape deviation of a structural element in a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining an image comprising an image representation of the structural element; extracting, from the image, an actual contour of the image representation; estimating a reference contour of the image representation indicative of a standard shape of the structural element, wherein the reference contour is estimated based on a Fourier descriptor representative of the reference contour, the Fourier descriptor being estimated using an optimization method based on a loss function specifically selected to be insensitive to local shape deviation of the actual contour; and performing one or more measurements representative of one or more differences between the actual contour and the reference contour, the measurements indicative of whether a local shape deviation is present in the structural element.

Abstract: There is provided a system and method of examination of a semiconductor specimen, comprising: obtaining a sequence of frames of an area of the specimen acquired by an electron beam tool configured to scan the area from a plurality of directions, the sequence comprising a plurality of sets of frames each acquired from a respective direction; and registering the plurality of sets of frames and generating an image of the specimen based on result of the registration, comprising: performing, for each direction, a first registration among the set of frames acquired therefrom, and combining the registered set of frames to generate a first composite frame, giving rise to a plurality of first composite frames respectively corresponding to the plurality of directions; and performing a second registration among the plurality of first composite frames, and combining the registered plurality of first composite frames to generate the image of the specimen.