Automated high-resolution imaging of very large fields of view (FOV)

Abstract

Researchers developed an advanced automation and control software package to automatically acquire large sets of images from different positions of a chip using air-gap objectives and then mathematically stitch them together to create a high-resolution image with a very large field of view (FOV). A key component of this technology was the development of a generic software interface to several analytical tools, so that key functionalities of the tools, such as stage movement, instrument condition setup, and data collection, could be operated in a programmatic way from other dedicated software packages or from different tools involved in the experiment. These interfaces functioned without a software application programming interface (API) from the tool vendor, and they could be addressed using other software and over the network.