Graphical automated machine control and metrology
AssigneeFEI Company
InventorsDavid J. Tasker, Henri J. Lezec, David A. Head
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A graphical programming system allows a user to place geometric shapes onto a scaled image, the shape having associated behavior that operates on the image or on the object of which the image is formed. In a preferred embodiment, the shapes are objects in the Visio program by Microsoft Corporation. The shapes are dragged from a stencil onto an image provided by ion beam or electron microscope image. The shape invokes software or hardware to locate and measure features on the image or to perform operations, such as ion beam milling, on the object that is imaged.
Claims19
A method of controlling a system, comprising:
- creating or obtaining an image of a workpiece using an image-firming machine;
- displaying the image on a display screen;
- overlaying the image with a computer-generated graphic component having associated functionality by placing the graphic component at a specific location on the displayed image, wherein said functionality comprises specifying at least one action to be performed after the graphic component has been positioned;
- and
- executing the functionality associated with the graphic component, at least one action performed being defined at least in part by a geometric characteristic of the graphic component other than the location of the graphic component, and the action comprising (i) locating or measuring a feature within the image or (ii) an action performed on the imaged workpiece corresponding to the portion of the image overlaid by the graphic component.
A method of controlling a system, comprising:
- creating or obtaining an image of a workpiece using an image-forming machine;
- displaying the image on a display screen;
- overlaying the image with two or more computer-generated shapes, at least one shape associated with an action to be executed, and the combination of two or more shapes specifying an operation to be performed on the image or the imaged workpiece;
- coordinating the scale of the image with that of the two or more shapes;
- and
- performing the specified operation on a portion of the image or the imaged workpiece corresponding to the portion of the image overlaid by the said shapes, said operation performed by executing actions associated with the overlaid shapes, the execution of said actions being defined at least in part by the location and the geometric characteristics of the associated shape.
A method of controlling a system, comprising:
- creating or obtaining an image of a workpiece using an image-forming machine;
- displaying the image on a display screen;
- overlaying the image with a first computer-generated shape, the first shape associated with edge detection instructions;
- positioning the first shape over the image of a first workpiece feature;
- executing the instructions associated with the first shape to locate an edge in the first feature image;
- overlaying the image with, a second computer-generated shape, the second shape associated with edge detection instructions;
- positioning the second shape over the image of a second workpiece feature;
- executing the instructions associated with the second shape to locate an edge in the second feature image;
- overlaying the image with a third computer-generated shape, the third shape associated with metrology instructions;
- and
- determining a measured distance between the located edges in the first and second features.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.