Apparatuses and methods directed toward endpoint detection are disclosed herein. An example method at least includes forming a plurality of lines on a top surface of a sample; removing, a plurality of times, material from a working surface of the sample, the working surface different than the top surface; imaging, a plurality of times, the sample to at least capture the plurality of lines; and determining an endpoint based on a relative spatial characteristic between two or more lines of the plurality of lines.

An exploration method starts from cuttings associated with sampling intervals and well data for a well in a subsurface formation. The cuttings are prepared and analyzed to extract textural and chemical/mineralogical data for plural fragments in each sample that is made of the cuttings in one sampling interval. The method then includes matching lithotypes of rock defined according to the textural and chemical/mineralogical data for each fragment with segments of the well data in the corresponding sampling interval to obtain correspondences between the lithotypes and depth ranges. The correspondences between the lithotypes and the depth ranges may be used as constraints for seismic data inversion.

The charged particle beam apparatus includes a charged particle beam optical system that irradiates a sample mounted on a sample stage with a charged particle beam; a detector that detects a signal generated from the sample; a charged particle beam imaging device that acquires an observation image from the signal detected by the detector; an optical imaging device that captures an optical image of the sample; a stage that rotatably holds the sample stage; a stage control device that controls movement and rotation of the stage; and an image composition unit that combines the plurality of optical images to generate a composite image. The stage control device is configured to move the stage so that the center of an imaging range of the optical imaging device is located at a position different from the rotation center of the stage and then, to rotate the stage, the optical imaging device acquires a plurality of optical images relating to different positions of the sample by rotation operation, and the image composition unit combines the plurality of optical images obtained by the rotation operation to generate a composite image.

Machine learning approach can combine mass spectral imaging (MSI) techniques, one with low spatial resolution but intact molecular spectra and the other with nanometer spatial resolution but fragmented molecular signatures, to predict molecular MSI spectra with submicron spatial resolution. The machine learning approach can perform transformations on the spectral image data of the two MSI techniques to reduce dimensionality, and using a correlation technique, find relationships between the transformed spectral image data. The determined relationships can be used to generate MSI spectra of desired resolution.

A system and a method for measuring drilling damage in fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) composites is described. Multiple holes are drilled in the FRP composite using a drill having nominal diameter, and the FRP composite is separated into multiple drilled blocks. Each block, covered with the black substrate, is scanned on a scanner to generate a scanned image depicting a hole region, a background, and delamination damage peaks. For each scanned image, a maximum delamination damage peak and a maximum diameter of a first circle concentric with the drilled hole and passing through tip of the maximum delamination peak, are measured. Further, a delamination size and a delamination factor are calculated based on the maximum diameter of the first circle and the nominal diameter of the drill.

A sensor having an acceptor to which a substance to be detected adheres, wherein log domain area ratio A is −4.1 or more, the log domain area ratio A providing a total occupancy maximum in a distribution of total occupancies against log domain area ratios calculated by subjecting the acceptor to the following measurement:
[Measurement]

In an image obtained by observing under a scanning electron microscope a surface or a cross section at an arbitrary position of the acceptor, quadtree spatial partitioning is performed in order to discriminate between void portions and dense portions of the surface or the cross section; a quadrangle group corresponding to the dense portions obtained by the quadtree spatial partitioning is classified on an area basis; and the log domain area ratio and the total occupancy are calculated as follows:

(Log Domain Area Ratio)

A value determined by dividing each area of the quadrangle group by the area of the image is regarded as a domain area ratio, and a common logarithm thereof is taken as the log domain area ratio, and

(Total Occupancy)

A value, which is represented by a ratio of a total area value of quadrangles having the same area in the quadrangle group to the area of the image being defined as 1, is regarded as the total occupancy.

A charged particle beam device includes a detector 109 converting a photon emitted by a scintillator into an electric signal and a signal processing unit 110 processing the electric signal from the detector 109. The signal processing unit 110 detects a peak position of the electric signal, steepness of a rising section associated with the peak position, and steepness of a falling section associated with the peak position and classifies the peak position based on the steepness of the rising section and the steepness of the falling section.

The present disclosure relates to a method for estimating heights of defects in a wafer. The method comprises creating an un-calibrated 3D model of a defect in a wafer, determining one or more attributes associated with the un-calibrated 3D model, transforming the un-calibrated 3D model to a calibrated 3D model, and estimating a height of the defect using the calibrated 3D model. Creating an un-calibrated 3D model corresponds to a defect present in a wafer based on a plurality of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of the defect. Transforming the un-calibrated 3D model to a calibrated 3D model uses a scaling factor corresponding to the determined one or more attributes associated with the un-calibrated 3D model. A height of the defect is estimated based on the calibrated 3D model of the defect.

A classified characterization method for connectivity of organic matter (OM)-hosted pores in shale includes: scanning a shale sample according to a preset imaging area through a scanning electron microscope to acquire a 2D image of the shale sample; extracting pore parameters of each OM in the 2D image by Avizo software; acquiring a class number of OM sets according to the pore parameters; performing 3D reconstruction on each class of OM sets through a focused ion beam-helium ion microscope to acquire reconstructed 3D models of the OM; acquiring a pore connectivity parameter by the Avizo software; and acquiring an evaluation index for overall connectivity of the OM-hosted pores in the shale based on the pore connectivity parameter. The classified characterization method is based on the morphologically quantitative classification of the OM-hosted pores, and can realize the 3D characterization of connectivity of pores below 10 nm.

Mask inspection apparatuses and/or mask inspection methods are provided that enable quick and accurate inspection of a registration of a pattern on a mask while a defect of the mask and the registration of the pattern are inspected simultaneously. The mask inspection apparatus may include a stage configured to receive a mask for inspection; an e-beam array including a plurality of e-beam irradiators configured to irradiate e-beams to the mask and detectors configured to detect electrons emitted from the mask; and a processor configured to process signals from the detectors. A defect of the mask may be detected through processing of the signal and registrations of patterns on the mask may be inspected based on positional information regarding the e-beam irradiators.