A defect inspecting system includes a detector configured to image a sample and a host control device that acquires an inspection image including a defect and a plurality of reference images not including a defect site and generates a pseudo defect image by editing a predetermined reference image among the plurality of acquired reference images. An initial parameter is determined with which the pseudo defect site is detectable from the pseudo defect image. The host control device acquires a defect candidate site from the inspection image using the initial parameter, estimates a high-quality image from an image of a site corresponding to the defect candidate site using the parameter acquired in image quality enhancement, and specifies an actual defect site in the inspection image by executing defect discrimination. A parameter is determined with which a site close to the specified actual defect site is detectable using the inspection image.

A method includes patterning a hard mask over a target layer, capturing a low resolution image of the hard mask, and enhancing the low resolution image of the hard mask with a first machine learning model to produce an enhanced image of the hard mask. The method further includes analyzing the enhanced image of the hard mask with a second machine learning model to determine whether the target layer has defects.

A method for analyzing a specification parameter of an electronic component includes inputting a package type and at least one engineering drawing image of an electronic component; acquiring a probability value that in each view of the different viewing directions each of the plurality of specification parameter of the electronic component is labeled; taking the view of each of the plurality of specification parameters in the view direction with a highest probability value as a recommended view; performing a box selection on the plurality of specification parameters for at least one engineering drawing image with the same viewing direction as that of the recommended view by an object detection model; and identifying box-selected specification parameters to acquire a size value of identified specification parameters from the at least one engineering drawing image, and converting the size value into a corresponding editable text for output.

Methods and systems for aligning images of a specimen generated with different modes of an imaging subsystem are provided. One method includes separately aligning first and second images generated with first and second modes, respectively, to a design for the specimen. For a location of interest in the first image, the method includes generating a first difference image for the location of interest and the first mode and generating a second difference image for the location of interest and the second mode. The method also includes aligning the first and second difference images to each other and determining information for the location of interest from results of the aligning.

Methods and systems for performing diagnostic functions for a deep learning model are provided. One system includes one or more components executed by one or more computer subsystems. The one or more components include a deep learning model configured for determining information from an image generated for a specimen by an imaging tool. The one or more components also include a diagnostic component configured for determining one or more causal portions of the image that resulted in the information being determined and for performing one or more functions based on the determined one or more causal portions of the image.

An image processing method for identifying text on production line components obtains an image to be recognized and a standard image for reference and extracts a first text area of the image to be recognized. A second text area of the standard image is obtained, and a text window is extracted based on the second text area. The method further obtains a target text area of the image to be recognized based on the first text area and the text window, and obtains a first set of first text sub-areas, and obtains a second set of second text sub-areas, by dividing the second text area into sub-windows of the text window. The method further marks the image to be recognized as a qualifying image when each first text sub-area of the first set is the same as a corresponding second text sub-area of the second set.

One example of an inspection system includes a laser, a magnification changer, and a first camera. The laser projects a line onto a wafer to be inspected. The magnification changer includes a plurality of selectable lenses of different magnification. The first camera images the line projected onto the wafer and outputs three-dimensional line data indicating the height of features of the wafer. Each lens of the magnification changer provides the same nominal focal plane position of the first camera with respect to the wafer.

A learning data generation device that can generate learning data suitable for learning of an identification model. The learning data generation device has a function of cutting out part of first image data as second image data, a function of generating a two-dimensional graphic corresponding to the area of the second image data and representing a pseudo defect, a function of generating third image data by combining the second image data and the two-dimensional graphic, and a function of assigning a label corresponding to the two-dimensional graphic to the third image data. By using the third image data for learning of the identification model, a highly accurate identification model can be generated.

Some example embodiments relate to a super resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) image implementing device and/or a method thereof. Provided a super resolution scanning electron microscope (SEM) image implementing device comprising a processor configured to crop a low resolution SEM image to generate a first cropped image and a second cropped image, to upscale the first cropped image and the second cropped image to generate a first upscaled image and a second upscaled image, and to cancel noise from the first upscaled image and the second upscaled image to generate a first noise canceled image and a second noise canceled image.

A reticle inspection system may include two or more inspection tools to generate two or more sets of inspection images for characterizing a reticle, where the two or more inspection tools include at least one reticle inspection tool providing inspection images of the reticle. The reticle inspection system may further include a controller to correlate data from the two or more sets of inspection images to positions on the reticle, detect one or more defects of interest on the reticle with the correlated data as inputs to a multi-input defect detection model, and output defect data associated with the defects of interest.