Automated application of drift correction to sample studied under electron microscope

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11399138-B2
Application number	US-202117210702-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 24, 2021
Priority date	Aug 16, 2019
Publication date	Jul 26, 2022
Grant date	Jul 26, 2022

Abstract

Control system configured for sample tracking in an electron microscope environment registers a movement associated with a region of interest located within an active area of a sample under observation with an electron microscope. The registered movement includes at least one directional constituent. The region of interest is positioned within a field of view of the electron microscope. The control system directs an adjustment of the electron microscope control component to one or more of dynamically center and dynamically focus the view through the electron microscope of the region of interest. The adjustment comprises one or more of a magnitude element and a direction element.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A control system configured for sample tracking in an electron microscope environment, the control system comprising:
a memory;
a processor; and
a microscope control component,
the control system configured to:
register a movement associated with a region of interest located within an active area of a sample under observation with an electron microscope,
wherein the registered movement includes at least one directional constituent,
wherein the region of interest is positioned within a field of view of the electron microscope;

direct an adjustment of the microscope control component to one or more of:
dynamically center a view through the electron microscope of the region of interest, and
dynamically focus the view through the electron microscope of the region of interest;
wherein the adjustment comprises one or more of:
a magnitude element, and
a direction element.

2. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to apply an in-situ stimulus to the region of interest, wherein the adjustment comprises a drift correction along an x-axis and a y-axis.

3. The control system of claim 2 , wherein the control system is further configured to apply an in-situ stimulus to the region of interest, wherein the adjustment comprises a drift correction along a z-axis.

4. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to alert a user when the registered movement is below a predetermined value or predetermined rate.

5. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the microscope control component is in electronic communication with one or more of: a mechanical stage, a goniometer, a piezo component of the stage, an illumination of an electron beam, a projection of the electron beam, an electromagnetic deflection of the electron beam, and a movement of the electron beam.

6. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to register the movement at a micron scale, a nanometer scale, or an atomic scale.

7. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to simultaneously register movement associated with a plurality of regions of interest located in the sample under observation.

8. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is configured to register the movement by referencing a template image of the region of interest against a remainder of the active area of the sample.

9. The control system of claim 8 , wherein the control system is further configured to manipulate a template image of the region of interest over a predetermined period of time to generate a current morphology profile or a current intensity profile.

10. The control system of claim 1 , wherein the control system is further configured to capture the registered movement as a drift vector associated with one or more of: a structure of interest, a region of interest, and a background region, of the sample under observation.

Assignees

• Protochips Inc

Inventors

• Walden Ii Franklin Stampley
• Damiano Jr John
• Nackashi David P
• Gardiner Daniel Stephen
• Uebel Mark
• Franks Alan Philip
• Jacobs Benjamin

Classifications

• H04N23/695 Primary

  Control of camera direction for changing a field of view, e.g. pan, tilt or based on tracking of objects · CPC title

• G06T7/215

  Motion-based segmentation · CPC title

• G06T7/337

  involving reference images or patches · CPC title

• H01J37/265

  Controlling the tube; circuit arrangements adapted to a particular application not otherwise provided, e.g. bright-field-dark-field illumination · CPC title

• H01J2237/221

  Image processing · CPC title