A Concept for Three-Dimensional Particle Metrology Based on Scanning Electron Microscopy and Structure-from-Motion...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Microscopy
• Computational Imaging

Background:

• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) provides 2D particle dimensions but lacks 3D information.
• Accurate 3D particle metrology is crucial for various scientific and industrial applications.
• Current SEM techniques are limited in their ability to capture complete particle morphology.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a novel concept for obtaining 3D particle metrology using SEM.
• To enable comprehensive 3D size and shape analysis of particles.
• To integrate structure-from-motion (SfM) algorithms with rotational SEM imaging.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing structure-from-motion (SfM) algorithms applied to multiple rotational SEM images.
• Acquiring SEM images of particles from 0° to 360° using a rotational-tip SEM substage.
• Generating 3D particle models from acquired image data for metrology.

Main Results:

• The proposed concept allows for the extraction of 3D size and shape information from particles.
• Demonstrated the feasibility of generating a 3D model from optical images of particles on a craft roll.
• The method is applicable to particles of various sizes suitable for SEM imaging.

Conclusions:

• The integration of SfM with rotational SEM offers a pathway to advanced 3D particle metrology.
• This novel approach has the potential to become an integral part of SEM-based particle analysis.
• Future work will focus on experimental SEM realization and algorithm refinement.