3DSM – 3D Surface Modelling in the SEM 

Introduction

What is 3DSM? Scanning electron microscopes are great tools for 2D inspection and metrology of a wide variety of samples. However, their 3D capabilities are still very limited, especially when it comes to quantitative surface characterization. This is the main problem tackled by 3DSM. 3DSM is a PC-based application capable of providing topographical information for samples examined with Carl Zeiss electron microscopes equipped with an AsB® or 4QBSD detector. The application can perform a 3D surface reconstruction based on the individual AsB®/ 4QBSD segment signals, and visualize the resulting 3D model in several different ways. 3DSM can work together with SmartSEM® in the live mode, for real-time 3D imaging. It may also operate in the stand-alone mode for visualizing archived project files. 

3DSM takes advantage of the possibility of using a single point of view, scanned using four detector segment signals. This method, called the multi-detector method, utilizes the principle of "shape from shading". Using four input images, the gradation of grey-levels on topographical objects is the basis for calculating local surface geometry. This leads to a continuous surface model  (Read the rest of this article)