Vision feedback in an automatic nanohandling station inside an SEM

Abstract

In this paper, two image processing approaches are presented, which are used to gain vision feedback for automatic nanohandling inside a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The first one is a vision-based force measurement that makes use of an active contours tracking algorithm for real-time tracking of the bending line of micro- and nanoobjects. With this algorithm, it is possible to calculate applied forces in real-time with respect to the image acquisition time. This approach is validated using a piezo-resistive force sensor. In a second experiment the force applied to a Si nanowire (d ≈ 470 nm) is measured. The second visual measurement approach deals with the calculations of depth information inside an SEM by means of stereoscopic images. Therefore, a new 3D-imaging system that uses a stereo algorithm based on a biologically motivated energy model is proposed. The system provides a sharp and high density disparity map in sub-pixel accuracy and a 3D-plot for the user.