Image searching defect detector
AssigneeOrbotech Ltd.
InventorAmir Noy
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An image of an article to be inspected is divided into image portions, and a search engine makes a comparison with the image portion and a library of reference images. The reference images have predetermined labels that indicate whether each indicates a defect or no defect. The one of the reference images that most closely matches the image portion is determined, and the label associated with the reference image is taken as indicating whether the image portion corresponds to a location with a defect or no defect. Locations indicated as being defective are considered candidate defects and may subsequently be inspected in more detail.
Claims27
A method for detecting defects in electrical circuits, comprising:
- generating an acquired image corresponding to a part of an electrical circuit to be inspected;
- making a comparison of said acquired image with at least two reference images, at least one of said reference images representing a defect and at least one of said reference images representing an absence of a defect;
- and
- based on said comparison, providing an indication of a correspondence of said acquired image to a defect or to an absence of a defect.
A system for inspecting electrical circuits comprising:
- an image generator generating an acquired image, said acquired image corresponding to a part of an electrical circuit to be inspected;
- an image comparator operative to compare said acquired image to at least two reference images, wherein at least one of said at least two reference images represents a defect in an image of an electrical circuit and at least one of said at least two reference image represents an absence of a defect in an image of an electrical circuit;
- and
- a defect indicator indicating a correspondence between said acquired image to a defect or to an absence of a defect in said electrical circuit.
A method for manufacturing electrical circuits, comprising:
- applying electrical conductors on a non-conductive substrate to form part of an electrical circuit, and inspecting part of an electrical circuit to be inspected, including:
- generating an acquired image corresponding to a part of said electrical circuit to be inspected;
- comparing said acquired image to at least two reference images, wherein at least one of said at least two reference images represents a defect in an electrical circuit and at least one of said at least two reference image represents an absence of a defect in an electrical circuit;
- and
- providing an indication of a correspondence of said acquired image to a defect or to an absence of a defect in said electrical circuit to be inspected.
A method for detecting defects in electrical circuits, comprising:
- forming a collection of images of portions of electrical circuits, said portions being classified at least as corresponding to one of a defect and a non-defect;
- for images in said collection, assigning defect determination values associated with features that represent the image, and storing said defect determination values in a memory;
- generating an acquired image corresponding to a part of an electrical circuit to be inspected;
- assigning a defect determination value for ones of said features in said acquired image;
- making an analysis of defect determination values associated with an acquired image in relation to stored defect determination values;
- and
- based on said analysis, providing an indication of a correspondence of said acquired image to a defect or to an absence of a defect.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.