There is presented a screening system and a corresponding method for screening an item. The screening system includes a detection apparatus (100), a rotatable platform (310) to receive the item, and a mechanical arrangement (320, 330). The detection apparatus has an emitter portion to generate a primary beam of ionising radiation and a detector portion to detect an absorption signal and at least one of a diffraction signal and a scattering signal. The mechanical arrangement is adapted to translate the detection apparatus along a translation axis to scan the item with the primary beam. The screening system may be used for identifying restricted or illicit substances that may be present in some luggage or in mail.

A system for inspecting an object includes a turntable on which the object may be placed. The turntable rotates the object about a first rotation axis. The system also includes an X-ray source to generate an X-ray beam in a plane to intersect with the object. The system also includes an X-ray detector that can detect at least a portion of the X-ray beam transmitted through the object during rotation and generate image data based on the detected X-ray beam. Also included is a controller that can: generate an image of the object based on the image data; determine, based on a suspect item identified in the image of the object, a second rotation axis at an angle from the first axis; cause a tilt of the turntable so that it is perpendicular to the second axis; and initiate a subsequent rotation of the object about the second axis.

Methods and systems for calibrating the location of x-ray beam incidence onto a specimen in an x-ray scatterometry metrology system are described herein. The precise location of incidence of the illumination beam on the surface of the wafer is determined based on occlusion of the illumination beam by two or more occlusion elements. The center of the illumination beam is determined based on measured values of transmitted flux and a model of the interaction of the beam with each occlusion element. The position of the axis of rotation orienting a wafer over a range of angles of incidence is adjusted to align with the surface of wafer and intersect the illumination beam at the measurement location. A precise offset value between the normal angle of incidence of the illumination beam relative to the wafer surface and the zero angle of incidence as measured by the specimen positioning system is determined.

A sample inspection system contains a source of electromagnetic radiation and an apparatus that includes a beam former, a collimator and an energy resolving detector. The beam former is adapted to receive electromagnetic radiation from the source to provide a polygonal shell beam formed of at least three walls of electromagnetic radiation. The collimator has a plurality of channels adapted to receive diffracted or scattered radiation at an angle. The energy resolving detector is arranged to detect radiation diffracted or scattered by a sample upon incidence of the polygonal shell beam onto the sample and transmitted by the collimator.

A radiation measurement device may be provided. The radiation measurement device may comprise a scattering component and a first detector. The scattering component may be located between a radiation source of an imaging device and the first detector, and configured to scatter first radiation rays emitted by the radiation source into scattering rays. The first detector may be configured to collect first measurement data by detecting at least a portion of the scattering rays, the first measurement data reflecting an operation status of the radiation source.

Methods and systems for estimating values of process parameters, structural parameters, or both, based on x-ray scatterometry measurements of high aspect ratio semiconductor structures are presented herein. X-ray scatterometry measurements are performed at one or more steps of a fabrication process flow. The measurements are performed quickly and with sufficient accuracy to enable yield improvement of an on-going semiconductor fabrication process flow. Process corrections are determined based on the measured values of parameters of interest and the corrections are communicated to the process tool to change one or more process control parameters of the process tool. In some examples, measurements are performed while the wafer is being processed to control the on-going fabrication process step. In some examples, X-ray scatterometry measurements are performed after a particular process step and process control parameters are updated for processing of future devices.

There is provided an X-ray utilized compound measuring apparatus in which troublesome tasks required to dispose a measurement object are reduced and the accuracy or the validity of measurements on multiple kinds of measurement can be improved. The X-ray utilized compound measuring apparatus comprises an X-ray generator 10 that outputs X-rays, a reflected-wave detector 12 that detects a reflected wave of the X-rays emitted from the X-ray generator 10 and reflected by a measurement object 21, a transmitted-wave detector 11 that detects a transmitted wave of the X-rays emitted from the X-ray generator 10 and passing through the measurement object 21, and a control unit that controls the X-ray generator 10 to output X-rays and performs computational processing for obtaining measurement values of a plurality of items on the measurement object 21 using a reflected-wave detection signal output from the reflected-wave detector 12 and representing the reflected wave and a transmitted-wave detection signal output from the transmitted-wave detector 11 and representing the transmitted wave and also performs computational processing for component analysis.

A diffraction system configured to generate a diffraction signature based upon an angular disbursement of radiation is provided. In some embodiments, the diffraction system comprises a radiation source comprising a radiographic isotope configured to natural emit radiation due to decay. In some embodiment, the diffraction system is part of an object identification system that comprises one or more other radiation imaging modalities, such as a CT system and/or a line-scan system. By way of example, the one or more other radiation imaging modalities may perform an initial examination of an object to generate data indicative of the object. The data can be analyzed to identify an item of interest within the object, which can subsequently be examined by the diffraction system to generate a diffraction signature of the item. The diffraction signature of the item can be compared to known diffraction signatures of known items to characterize the item.

Systems and methods for liquid detection are disclosed. An illustrative method for liquid detection herein may include implementing CT imaging and XRD imaging on one or more liquid planes of liquid contained in a container at once by rotating the container so that X-rays from a same radiation source scan a whole area of each of the one or more liquid planes, and generating a substance identification result for the liquid contained in the container based on a CT image and a XRD image, wherein the CT imaging and the XRD imaging are implemented on a same liquid plane or different liquid planes. Consistent with various aspects and features, implementations may identify substances contained in the liquid more quickly and accurately.

A method for analyzing an object includes irradiating the object with incident photon radiation and acquiring an energy spectrum scattered by the material using a spectrometric detector in scatter mode. An energy spectrum transmitted by the material is acquired using a spectrometric detector in transmission mode. A signature (f) is reconstructed representing the object, both from the scatter spectrum measured and from the transmission spectrum measured, and the reconstructed signature thereof is compared with signatures of standard materials.