Grain analyzing method and system using HRTEM image

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10217205-B2
Application number	US-201615065901-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 10, 2016
Priority date	Mar 10, 2015
Publication date	Feb 26, 2019
Grant date	Feb 26, 2019

Abstract

Provided are a method and system for analyzing grains using a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image. The method relates to analyzing nanometer grains, and includes receiving an HRTEM image, setting local windows each having a predetermined size for the HRTEM image, performing at least one Fast Fourier transformation on pixel data determined by the local windows to calculate local transformation data; and analyzing grains based on the local transformation data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of analyzing a nanometer-sized grain, the method comprising:
receiving a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image;
setting a local window for the HRTEM image to define pixel data;
performing at least one Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) on the pixel data to calculate local transformation data; and
analyzing the grain based on the local transformation data.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the performing of the FFT comprises performing a two-dimensional (2D) Digital Fourier Transform (DFT) on the pixel data.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the analyzing of the grain comprises calculating at least one of orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for the grain.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the calculating of the at least one of the orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for the grain comprises:
selecting data having a maximum amplitude from the local transformation data;
calculating the orientation information based on a direction of the selected data from a midpoint; and
calculating the periodicity information based on a distance between the midpoint and the selected data.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the analyzing of the grain further comprises:
determining whether the grain is a crystalline material or an amorphous material based on the periodicity information.

6. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
storing the at least one orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for each pixel of the HRTEM image in a memory.

7. A method of analyzing nanometer-sized grains including a first grain and a second grain, the method comprising:
calculating grain analysis data for each pixel of a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image; and
segmenting the first grain from the second grain based on the grain analysis data,
wherein the grain analysis data comprises at least one of orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for the first grain and the second grain.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the calculating of the grain analysis data comprises:
calculating Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) data by performing at least one FFT on pixel data of the HRTEM image to generate FFT data; and
calculating the at least one of the orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for each pixel of the pixel data based on the FFT data.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the segmenting of the first grain from the second grain comprises:
selecting a first pixel having a highest crystallization rate based on the grain analysis data for each pixel of pixel data of the HRTEM image;
determining whether pixels adjacent to the first pixel are of the same material;
determining whether pixels of the same material among the pixels adjacent to the first pixel belong to the same grain as the first pixel; and
setting a border of the first grain to include the adjacent pixels belonging to the same grain as the first pixel.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining of whether pixels adjacent to the first pixel are of the same material comprises; determining whether the first pixel and the pixels adjacent to the first pixel are crystalline material or amorphous material based on the periodicity information.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the determining of whether pixels of the same material among the pixels adjacent to the first pixel belong to the same grain as the first pixel comprises; determining that the first pixel and the pixels adjacent to the first pixel have respectively corresponding orientation information that falls within an expected range.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the segmenting of the first grain from the second grain further comprises:
selecting the second pixel having a highest crystallization rate among pixels that do not belong to the first grain based on the grain analysis data;
determining whether pixels adjacent to the second pixel are of the same material;
determining whether pixels of the same material among the pixels adjacent to the second pixel belong to the same grain as the second pixel; and
setting a border of the second grain to include the adjacent pixels belonging to the same grain as the second pixel.

13. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
mapping at least one of the orientation information and crystallization rate information for the first grain and second grain into corresponding color information and gray-level information, respectively to generate mapped data; and
displaying the mapped data.

14. A system for analyzing nanometer-sized grains, the system comprising:
a high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image analyzing apparatus configured to receive an input image (IIM) for the HRTEM image, divide the TIM into local windows, perform at least one Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT) pixel data selected by the local windows to obtain FFT data to generate local transformation data, analyze grains based on the local transformation data to generate grain analysis data, and generate an output image (OIM) derived from the grain analysis data; and
a display device configured to display at least one image in response to the OIM.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the image analyzing apparatus comprises:
a local window setting unit configured to set the local windows for a frame of the IIM;
an FFT processor configured to calculate the local transformation data by performing two-dimensional (2D) FFT on pixel data respectively determined by the local windows; and
an analyzing unit configured to calculate orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for grains associated with each one of the local windows based on the local transformation data.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the analyzing unit selects pixel data having a maximum amplitude from the local transformation data, calculates the orientation information based on a direction of the selected pixel data from a midpoint, and calculates the periodicity information based on a distance between the midpoint and the selected data.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the analyzing unit determines whether the grains are crystalline material or amorphous material based on the periodicity information, and
determines whether the grains are the same material based on the orientation information.

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the analyzing unit correlates orientation information, crystallization rate information, and periodicity information for each of the grains in relation to pixel data of at least one the local windows.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the analyzing unit selects a first pixel having a highest crystallization rate among the pixels, determines whether pixels adjacent to the first pixel are of the same material, determines whether pixels of the same material among the pixels adjacent to the first pixel belong to the same grain as the first pixel, and sets a border of a first grain including the adjacent pixels belonging to the same grain as the first pixel.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein the image analyzing apparatus further comprises; a mapping unit configured to generate color information from orientation information and generate gray-level information from the crystallization rate information.

Assignees

• Park Min Chul
• Kim Dae Sin
• Kim Sat Byul
• Kim Sae Jin
• Xia Zhiliang
• Lee Je Hyun
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Park Min Chul
• Kim Dae Sin
• Kim Sat Byul
• Kim Sae Jin
• Xia Zhiliang
• Lee Je Hyun

Classifications

• G06K9/00127

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T2207/30148

  Semiconductor; IC; Wafer · CPC title

• G06T2207/20056

  Discrete and fast Fourier transform, [DFT, FFT] · CPC title

• G06K9/0014

  Physics · mapped topic

• G06T7/0004 Primary

  Industrial image inspection · CPC title