# US 10,483,083 B2 · Scanning electron microscope and image processing apparatus > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 10,483,083 B2 - Document ID: US10483083B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 16/043,958 - Filed: 2018-07-24 - Published: 2019-01-31 - Granted: 2019-11-19 - Earliest claimed: 2017-07-31 - Assignees: Hitachi, Ltd. - Applicants: Hitachi, Ltd. - Inventors: Thantip Krasienapibal; Yasuhiro Shirasaki; Momoyo Enyama; Sayaka Kurata - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US10483083B2 ## CPC - H01J 37/222: {Image processing arrangements associated with the tube} - G06V 10/25: Determination of region of interest [ROI] or a volume of interest [VOI] - G06V 20/695: {Preprocessing, e.g. image segmentation} - H01J 37/20: Means for supporting or positioning the object or the material; Means for adjusting diaphragms or lenses associated with the support - H01J 37/244: Detectors; Associated components or circuits therefor - H01J 37/28: with scanning beams {(H01J37/268, H01J37/292, H01J37/2955 take precedence)} - H01J 2237/20207: Tilt - H01J 2237/20214: Rotation - H01J 2237/20235: Z movement or adjustment - H01J 2237/2804: Scattered primary beam - H01J 2237/2806: Secondary charged particle - H01J 2237/2813: characterised by the application - H01J 2237/282: Determination of microscope properties - H01J: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE TUBES OR DISCHARGE LAMPS (spark-gaps H01T; electric arc lamps H05B31/00; particle accelerators H05H) - G06V: IMAGE OR VIDEO RECOGNITION OR UNDERSTANDING ## Abstract In this invention, information of material composition, process conditions and candidates of crystal structure either known or imported from material database is used to determine sample stage tilt angle and working distance (WD). Under these determined tilt angle and WD, the intensity of the electrons emitted at different angles and with different energies is measured using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) system comprising: a use of materials database containing materials composition, formation process, crystal structure and its electron yield; a sample stage that is able to move, rotate and tilt; an processing section for calculating optimum working distance for an observation from material database and measurement condition; means for acquiring an image of crystal information of a desired area of a sample based on an image obtained from SEM observation. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A scanning electron microscope (SEM) comprising: a sample stage for mounting a sample; a detector for detecting an electron emitted from the sample; an SEM control section for controlling a distance between the sample stage and the detector; a memory, which stores: a material database storing a plurality of datasets comprising information associated with a material, information of a crystal structure of the material, and information of an electron emitted from the material; and a first relationship between the information of electron emitted from the material, the distance, and a signal detected by the detector. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, wherein the SEM control section calculates the distance between the sample stage and the detector based on the first relationship and the material database. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein the SEM control section calculates the distance having maximum length that provides the signal greater than a predetermined threshold value. ### Claim 4 (depends on 2) The system of claim 2, wherein the information associated with the material includes at least material composition information and formation process information, and, the crystal structure information includes phase information. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The system of claim 4, wherein the information of the crystal structure includes phase information and orientation information. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The system of claim 5, wherein the information of the electron emitted from the material is an electron yield which is defined as a number of electrons emitted from the material per incident electron. ### Claim 7 (depends on 6) The system of claim 6, wherein the first relationship includes a condition parameter of the SEM comprising at least one of probe current of the SEM measurement and gain of the detector. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The system of claim 1, further comprising: a user terminal to receive input specifying a desired resolution for crystal orientation discrimination, wherein the SEM control section controls an angle between the sample stage and the detector, wherein the SEM control section comprises means to continuously aquire SEM images, and wherein the memory contains a second relationship which defines a relationship between the resolution and the angle, to calculate the angles at which the measurements are made. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the SEM control section comprises means for image processing with overlaying of more than one image; and for determining a region of interest (ROI). ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the SEM control section comprises means for optimizing the distance between the sample stage and the detector using the first relationship, the materials database, and the angle between the sample stage and the detector. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the acquiring means is configured to perform at least one of tilting and rotating a stage for more than three conditions of tilt. ### Claim 12 An image processing apparatus comprising: an operation interface; a processing section for processing image data obtained from the operation interface; and a data storage section which stores a material database and a plurality of signal values according to the a first relationship wherein the material database comprises a plurality of datasets, each said dataset comprising information associated with a material, information of a crystal structure of the material, and information of an electron emitted from the material, the first relationship indicates a relationship between the information of electron emitted from the material, and a signal detected by a detector, the processing section selects one dataset among the material database based on input data received from the operation interface, the processing section calculates brightness information of the crystal structure of the material based on the selected dataset and the first relationship, the processing section recognizes a region of interest (ROI) in the image data, and the processing section determines the crystal structure of the ROI based on the image data and the brightness information. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the information of the crystal structure includes at least two phases, and the information of the electron emitted from the material includes an electron yield of each phase. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the information associated with the material includes at least one of material composition information and formation process information, and wherein the processing section is configured to accept the input data including at least one of a known material composition information and a known formation process information. ### Claim 15 (depends on 12) The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the operation interface displays the image data and a crystal phase map with colored or filling patterned for each ROI based on the determined crystal structure.