Hitachi-high-technologies Corporation

Hitachi, Ltd.

Hitachi Medical Corporation

Junichi Taguchi

Mitsuji Ikeda

Yuichi Abe

Takao Arai

Toshifumi Takeuchi

Koichi Sano

Hiroshi Yoshiura

Akira Maeda

Osamu Komuro

Akiyuki Sugiyama

Takumichi Sutani

Wataru Nagatomo

Osamu Inoue

Shigeru Watanabe

Isao Echizen

Takahiro Kawasaki

Masahiro Kitazawa

It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor inspection apparatus capable of well carrying out position alignment and correctly determining whether the position alignment has been carried out successfully or has ended in a failure without operator interventions even if an inspected image is an image having few characteristics as is the case with a repetitive pattern or the inspected image is an image having a complicated shape. The semiconductor inspection apparatus includes means for imaging a shape on a wafer or on an exposure mask; means for storing an image inspected by the imaging means; means for storing design data of the semiconductor circuit corresponding to a position on the wafer or on the exposure mask which are to be imaged by the imaging means; means for storing a design-data image obtained as a result of converting the design data into an image; means for generating a design-data ROI image by converting an interest drawing region found from a relative crude-density relation of a shape included in the design-data image into an image; and a position alignment section configured to carry out position alignment on the inspected image and the design-data image. The semiconductor inspection apparatus makes use of the design-data ROI image in order to identify a position at which the inspected image and the design-data image match each other or compute the degree of coincidence.

Pattern matching apparatus and computer program

Image processing apparatus includes: interpolation process image acquisition means for acquiring an interpolation process image of prescribed size which includes an interpolation point of an inputted image; Fourier transform means for subjecting the interpolation process image which is acquired with the interpolation process image acquisition means to Fourier transform; phase change means for changing, a phase of each value of the transformed interpolation process image which has been subjected to Fourier transform by the Fourier transform means, such that the interpolation point migrates to a desired nearby integer coordinate position; inverse Fourier transform means for subjecting the interpolation process image whose phase has been changed by the phase change means, to inverse Fourier transform; interpolation value determination means for adopting an interpolation point, a value of a pixel at the integer coordinate position, from the transformed interpolation process image subjected to inverse Fourier transform by the inverse Fourier transform means.

Image processing apparatus, distortion-corrected map creation apparatus, and semiconductor measurement apparatus

A matching degree computing apparatus is provided for comparing an input image and an object template image and computing a matching degree between an input image and an object template image based on the compared result. The computing apparatus includes a transforming unit for transforming the input image so as to be matched to the template object region and a computing unit for computing a matching degree between the transformed input image and the template image. The transforming unit provides a shaping unit for shaping a non-background region to the form of the template object region in the object corresponding region of the input image and a processing unit for arranging the non-background region contacting with the template object corresponding region so that the non-background region has no substantial impact on the matching degree in the object non-corresponding region of the input image.

Method and apparatus for computing degree of matching

In an apparatus for photographing an image of a product to judge whether or not a defect is present, a manufacturing desirable image is formed from data acquired when the product was designed, which could be obtained if no defect was present when the product was photographed, an inspection portion where a defect may occur is selected from the formed manufacturing desirable image, a defect pattern is superimposed on the selected inspection portion so as to form a template equipped with the defect pattern. The image of the product is photographed, a template matching operation is carried out as a template having the defect pattern, and judgement is made whether or not a defect is present based upon a matched evaluation value. As a result, the judgement for judging whether or not the defect is present can be directly carried out based upon the evaluation value.

Defect inspection device and defect inspection method for inspecting whether a product has defects

A similar image having a high correlation is selected through autocorrelation performs a template original image selected from an image photographed for a template, and a difference image between the similar image and template original image is formed. An image extracting a real difference is formed by removing noises and edges in unstable areas from the difference image. This image is added to the template original image to form a modified template. Template matching is performed by using the modified template as a template. The image extracting the real reference and added to the modified template functions to add an evaluation penalty to the similar image during matching evaluation to lower an evaluation value of the similar image so that a probability of erroneously recognizing the similar image as the image to be detected.

Apparatus, method and program product for matching with a template

A method of embedding information into contents includes a changeable range calculating step of obtaining a range where value change of the contents is imperceptible to the human being and a step of embedding information by changing the values of the contents within the changeable range.

Method and system for embedding information into contents

The present invention intends to easily perform arithmetic operations for determining flow velocities without making phase correction and to reduce the aliasing error. To this end, a plurality of data pieces having phase sensitivity are measured using phase contrast pulse sequences in a magnetic resonance diagnostic apparatus. When four data pieces having phase sensitivity of tetrahedral type are acquired, four measured images are obtained. Individual measured images have vector values at corresponding points. Predetermined pair images are subjected to an arithmetic operation for determining an angle between two vectors at individual points on the images, the thus obtained phase images are added and a sum image is multiplied by a suitable coefficient to produce an x-direction flow velocity image. Flow velocity images in y and z directions are similarly obtained and images determining the magnitudes of flow velocities can also be produced.

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Sagamihara, Japan

Junichi Taguchi