Abstract: The system for measuring a magnetic resonance signal within a sample (4) placed in a static external magnetic field (H) includes an excitation device (1 to 3, 6 to 10) for applying high-intensity radio-frequency pulses at a predetermined emission frequency fe in a measurement zone containing the sample (4). The excitation device includes an excitation coil (3) tuned to the predetermined emission frequency fe and disposed in the vicinity of the sample (4) in such a way as to produce an electromagnetic field essentially perpendicular to the static external magnetic field (H). The system further includes at least a superconductive-magnetoresistive hybrid sensor (5) including a superconductive loop having a constriction adapted to increase significantly the current density and at least a magnetoresistive sensor placed in the immediate vicinity of said constriction (72) and being separated therefrom by an insulative deposit.

Abstract: The system for measuring a magnetic resonance signal within a sample (4) placed in a static external magnetic field (H) includes an excitation device (1 to 3, 6 to 10) for applying high-intensity radio-frequency pulses at a predetermined emission frequency fe in a measurement zone containing the sample (4). The excitation device includes an excitation coil (3) tuned to the predetermined emission frequency fe and disposed in the vicinity of the sample (4) in such a way as to produce an electromagnetic field essentially perpendicular to the static external magnetic field (H). The system further includes at least a superconductive-magnetoresistive hybrid sensor (5) including a superconductive loop having a constriction adapted to increase significantly the current density and at least a magnetoresistive sensor placed in the immediate vicinity of said constriction (72) and being separated therefrom by an insulative deposit.

Abstract: A system and method for object inspection incorporates a level of hierarchy so that a single, primary alignment may be performed to generate a pose for multiple inspection regions. As a result, a Training mode may include the specification of a single alignment model window and a list of associated inspection region windows. Similarly, a Run-time Inspection Mode may also include specification of a single alignment model window and a list of associated inspection region windows. Such an implementation addresses the long standing problems associated with performing one or more types of inspection operations in one or more regions of a given sample-object image. By virtue of the hierarchical structure, operation of multiple inspection tools may be performed simultaneously or in any order and inspection of multiple inspection regions may be performed simultaneously or in any order.

Abstract: A method and apparatus are disclosed for analyzing a boundary of an object. An embodiment for determining defects of a boundary to sub-pixel precision and an embodiment for fast correlation scoring are disclosed. The boundary is analyzed by matching a first boundary, such as a model of an ideal object boundary, to a second boundary, such as the boundary of an object being produced at a factory. The boundaries are represented as a set of indexed vertices, which are generated by parsing the boundaries into a set of segments. One embodiment refines the parse through merging segments and reassigning data points near the endpoints of the segments. The model produced is very accurate and is useful in other applications. To analyze the boundaries, the sets of indexed vertices are matched, and optionally the segmentation of the second boundary is refined to increase the extent of matching.

Abstract: Machine vision methods for inspection of semiconductor die lead frames include the steps of generating a first image of the lead frame, generating a second image of the lead frame and any defect thereon, and subtracting the second image from the first image. The methods are characterized in that the second image is generated such that subtraction of it from the first image emphasizes the defect with respect to the lead frame.

Abstract: Machine vision methods for inspection of semiconductor die lead frames include the steps of generating a first image of the lead frame, generating a second image of the lead frame and any defect thereon, and subtracting the second image from the first image. The methods are characterized in that the second image is generated such that subtraction of it from the first image emphasizes the defect with respect to the lead frame.

Abstract: A machine vision method is provided for segmenting an image based on an adaptive thresholding approach that exploits prior knowledge of the characteristics, such as area, of the object to be segmented. Adaptation to varying gray-values of the candidate object/background from scene-to-scene is obtained by using a sampling window which provides gray-value statistics of the candidate object to be segmented. Next, using these statistics, a characteristic of the image of the object to be segmented, such as its area or its gray-value standard deviation, and the histogram of the image, the segmentation is performed. The invention is especially useful for detecting the presence/absence of adhesive on printed circuit boards, where both the appearance of the printed circuit board and the solder paste commonly found thereon make segmentation difficult. In case of presence/absence determination, an additional step of shape matching is employed.

Abstract: Machine vision methods for inspection of semiconductor die surfaces include the steps of generating a first image of the die surface, generating a second image of the die surface and any defect thereon, and subtracting the second image from the first image. The methods are characterized in that the second image is generated such that subtraction of it from the first image emphasizes the defect with respect to the die surface.