A method of evaluating an insulated-gate semiconductor device having an insulated-gate structure including a channel formation layer made of a wide-bandgap semiconductor and a gate insulating film formed contacting the channel formation layer includes removing the gate insulating film in order to expose a surface of the channel formation layer; taking a phase image of the exposed surface of the channel formation layer using a phase mode of an atomic force microscope; evaluating a surface condition of the exposed surface of the channel formation layer by calculating an evaluation metric from phase shift values in the phase image and by determining whether the evaluation metric satisfies a prescribed condition; and determining that the insulated-gate semiconductor device is acceptable when the evaluation metric satisfied the prescribed condition.

An evaluation method of a SiC epitaxial wafer includes: a first observation step of preparing a SiC epitaxial wafer having a high-concentration epitaxial layer having an impurity concentration of 110.sup.18 cm.sup.3 or more, irradiating a surface of the high-concentration epitaxial layer having an impurity concentration of 110.sup.18 cm.sup.3 or more with excitation light, and observing a surface irradiated with the excitation light via a band-pass filter having a wavelength band of 430 nm or less.

A method of identifying a wafer defect region is disclosed. The method includes preparing a sample wafer, forming a primary oxide film on the sample wafer at a temperature of 800 C. to 1000 C., forming a secondary oxide film on the primary oxide film at a temperature of 1000 C. to 1100 C., forming a tertiary oxide film on the secondary oxide film at a temperature of 1100 C. to 1200 C., removing the primary to tertiary oxide films, etching one surface of the sample wafer from which the primary to tertiary oxide films are removed to form haze on one surface of the sample wafer, and identifying a defect region of the sample wafer based on the haze.

A method for removing foreign matter from an agricultural product stream of a manufacturing process. The method includes conveying a product stream past an inspection station; scanning a region of the agricultural product stream as it passes the inspection station using at least one light source of a single or different wavelengths; generating hyperspectral images from the scanned region; determining a spectral fingerprint for the agricultural product stream from the hyperspectral images; comparing the spectral fingerprint obtained in step (c) to a spectral fingerprint database containing a plurality of fingerprints using a computer processor to determine whether foreign matter is present and, if present, generating a signal in response thereto; and removing a portion of the conveyed product stream in response to the signal. A system for detecting foreign matter within an agricultural product stream is also provided.

There is provided a system and method of examining a specimen. The method comprises obtaining an actual measurement in response to scanning the specimen using a set of scanning parameters with predefined values; obtaining a simulated measurement based on design data; comparing the actual measurement with the simulated measurement to identify a deviation with respect to a predefined tolerance; identifying at least one structural property as root cause of the deviation by: obtaining one or more additional actual measurements in response to scanning the specimen using one or more varying values of at least one scanning parameter; and providing the actual measurement and the additional actual measurements to a simulation model representative of simulated measurement distribution in a multi-dimensional property space characterized by the structural properties of the plurality of layers and the at least one scanning parameter, thereby identifying the at least one structural property.

Provided is a method for blending of agricultural product utilizing hyperspectral imaging. At least one region along a sample of agricultural product is scanned using at least one light source of different wavelengths. Hyperspectral images are generated from the at least one region. A spectral fingerprint for the sample of agricultural product is formed from the hyperspectral images. A plurality of samples of agricultural product is blended based on the spectral fingerprints of the samples according to parameters determined by executing a blending algorithm.

Examination system, method and computer-readable medium, the method comprising: processing by a processor using a first recipe at least one image comprised in images and metadata generated by an inspection tool and stored, to detect a first location set of first potential defects and attributes thereof; selecting and imaging part of the first location set with a review tool to obtain an image set; obtaining classification results of said first potential defects and determining a further recipe based thereon; processing the image using the further recipe for detecting a further location set of further defects; selecting part of the further location set; imaging the part with the review tool to obtain a further image set, and obtaining further classification results; and repeating determining the further recipe, processing the image, selecting and imaging part of the further location set, and obtaining further classification results, until a stopping criteria is met.

An overlay metrology system includes an overlay metrology tool configurable to generate overlay signals with a plurality of recipes and further directs an illumination beam to an overlay target and collects radiation emanating from the overlay target in response to the at least a portion of the illumination beam to generate the overlay signal with the particular recipe. The overlay metrology system further acquires two or more overlay signals for a first overlay target using two or more unique recipes, subsequently acquires two or more overlay signals for a second overlay target using the two or more unique recipes, determines candidate overlays for the first and second overlay targets based on the two or more overlay signals for each target, and determines output overlays for the first and second overlay targets based on the two or more candidate overlays for each target.

A method is disclosed evaluating a silicon layer crystallized by irradiation with pulses form an excimer-laser. The crystallization produces periodic features on the crystallized layer dependent on the number of and energy density ED in the pulses to which the layer has been exposed. An area of the layer is illuminated with light. A microscope image of the illuminated area is made from light diffracted from the illuminated are by the periodic features. The microscope image includes corresponding periodic features. The ED is determined from a measure of the contrast of the periodic features in the microscope image.

Provided is a method for blending of agricultural product utilizing hyperspectral imaging. At least one region along a sample of agricultural product is scanned using at least one light source of different wavelengths. Hyperspectral images are generated from the at least one region. A spectral fingerprint for the sample of agricultural product is formed from the hyperspectral images. A plurality of samples of agricultural product is blended based on the spectral fingerprints of the samples according to parameters determined by executing a blending algorithm.