An image processing system includes one or more processors that select one target algorithm from evaluation algorithms, calculate an evaluation value indicating adaptation to image measurement using the target algorithm and one or more evaluation images corresponding to an evaluation lighting pattern for each evaluation lighting pattern, and determine a lighting pattern to be used for the image measurement from evaluation lighting patterns based on the evaluation value.

This invention provides a system and method for detecting and imaging specular surface defects on a specular surface that employs a knife-edge technique in which the camera aperture or an external device is set to form a physical knife-edge structure within the optical path that effectively blocks reflected rays from an illuminated specular surface of a predetermined degree of slope values and allows rays deflected at differing slopes to reach the vision system camera sensor. The light reflected from the flat part of the surface is mostly blocked by the knife-edge. Light reflecting from the sloped parts of the defects is mostly reflected into the entrance aperture. The illumination beam is angled with respect to the optical axis of the camera to provide the appropriate degree of incident angle with respect to the surface under inspection. The surface can be stationary or in relative motion with respect to the camera.

Methods and systems for measuring optical properties of transistor channel structures and linking the optical properties to the state of strain are presented herein. Optical scatterometry measurements of strain are performed on metrology targets that closely mimic partially manufactured, real device structures. In one aspect, optical scatterometry is employed to measure uniaxial strain in a semiconductor channel based on differences in measured spectra along and across the semiconductor channel. In a further aspect, the effect of strain on measured spectra is decorrelated from other contributors, such as the geometry and material properties of structures captured in the measurement. In another aspect, measurements are performed on a metrology target pair including a strained metrology target and a corresponding unstrained metrology target to resolve the geometry of the metrology target under measurement and to provide a reference for the estimation of the absolute value of strain.

A system for locating a strand including fibers of a first woven preform material, the preform including, at the surface, strands of fibers of a second material and the strand including fibers of the first material forming a tracer. The system further includes a camera; a light source emitting a non-polarized incident beam configured to be directed towards the preform; a polarizer configured to polarize the non-polarized incident beam before interacting with the preform in order to obtain a polarized incident beam; and a crossed analyzer; the first material being chosen from among glass, aramid and aluminum oxide; the second material being chosen from among carbon and silicon carbide; the camera being configured to film a reflected beam originating from the interaction of the polarized incident beam with the preform, the reflected beam having previously crossed the crossed analyzer, so as to locate the tracer of the preform.

The present description concerns a device for controlling parts being manufactured, comprising at least one image sensor configured to form, for each part at last one first image by thermography and at least one second image by polarimetry.

An apparatus and methods of inspecting, analyzing, classifying, and/or grading quality of a transparent sheet using a data set of photoelasticity measurements, thickness measurements, segmentation specifications, measurement specifications and quality control specifications of the transparent sheet. A results measurement is calculated on a computing system, quality control specifications are applied to the results measurement allowing writing to the database and creating reports, sending results to an operator interface and machine control.

The inspection apparatus includes: a linear polarizer and a wave plate generating polarized light from light emitted from a light source; a polarization camera imaging the polarized light generated by the linear polarizer and the wave plate and transmitted through a molding product; and a determination unit determining a state of the molding product using an image captured by the polarization camera.

Disclosed herein is a method for increasing signal-to-noise (SNR) in optical imaging of defects on unpatterned wafers. The method includes: (i) irradiating a region of an unpatterned wafer with a substantially polarized, incident light beam, and (ii) employing relay optics to collect and guide, radiation scattered off the region, onto a segmented polarizer comprising at least four polarizer segments characterized by respective dimensions and polarization directions. The respective dimensions and polarization direction of each of the at least four polarizer segments are such that an overall power of background noise radiation, generated in the scattering of the incident light beam from the region and passed through all of the at least four polarizer segments, is decreased as compared to utilizing a linear polarizer.

Sub-diffraction limited magneto-optical microscopy, such as Kerr or Faraday effect microscopy, provide many advantages to fields of science and technology for measuring, or imaging, the magnetization structures and magnetization domains of materials. Disclosed is a method and system for performing sub-diffraction limited magneto-optic microscopy. The method includes positioning a microlens or microlens layer relative to a surface of a sample to image the surface of the sample, forming a photonic nanojet to probe the surface of the sample, and receiving light reflected by the surface of the sample or transmitted through the sample at an imaging sensor. The methods and associated systems and devices enable sub-diffraction limited imaging of magnetic domains at resolutions 2 to 8 times the classical diffraction limit.

Provided is an optical metal detector device (10) for preparing magnetic resonance imaging, MRI, comprising: a light (11) configured to emit light to illuminate a subject (S), a camera (12) configured to be positioned in multiple different positions relative to the subject, to capture a series of images of the illuminated subject and to provide assigned image signals, a linear polarizer (13) configured to be arranged in at least a first angular position and a second angular position relative to the subject, the first angular position and the second angular position are different to each other, and to polarize the light emitted by the light source or to polarize the image captured by the camera, and a data processing means (14) configured to obtain at least the image signals from the camera, wherein the data processing means is further configured to combine the image signals associated with the first angular position and the second angular position of the linear polarizer and the image signals associated with one or more of the multiple different positions of the camera to obtain a combined signal and to compare the combined signal with a threshold indicating a quantity of foreign metal objects on the subject. Thereby, combining the image signals with each other comprises a convolution operation.