EP-4742154-A1 - DEVICE FOR LAYER THICKNESS MEASUREMENT AND METHOD THEREFOR

Abstract

A first aspect of the present disclosure is related to an imaging device for determining a thickness of a layer comprised in an image, configured to: - obtain an image of a sample with one or more layers ; - obtain from a user interface a first estimation information indicating a location of a first edge of a layer; - obtain from the user interface a second estimation information indicating a location of a second edge of the layer; - determine the first edge of the layer based on the first estimation information; - determine the second edge of the layer based on the second estimation information; - determine a distance between the first edge and the second edge.

Inventors

• JIAO, Linqi
• HU, Baiyang

Assignees

• Leica Microsystems CMS GmbH

Dates

Publication Date

20260513

Application Date

20250307

Claims (17)

1. An imaging device for determining a thickness of a layer within an image, configured to: - obtain an image (100) of a sample with one or more layers (112, 116, 120, 130, 134); - obtain from a user interface a first estimation information (140, 142, 144) indicating a location of a first edge (122) of a layer; - obtain from the user interface a second estimation information (150, 152, 154) indicating a location of a second edge (124) of the layer; - determine the first edge (122) of the layer based on the first estimation information; - determine the second edge (124) of the layer based on the second estimation information; - determine a distance (160, 162, 164) between the first edge and the second edge.
2. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the first and/or second estimation information can comprise one or more of: - one or more points (140), - one or more lines (210), or - one or more areas (210).
3. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the estimation information can comprise an area (210, 212, 214, 216) provided by a brush tool over a user interface.
4. The imaging device according to the preceding claim, configured to: - adjust a parameter of the brush tool, in particular one or more of -- a width of the brush stroke; -- a color of the brush stroke; -- an opacity of the brush stroke.
5. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - determine an edge (122, 124) based on the first and/or second estimation information based on one or more of: -- an intensity difference within the respective estimation information; -- a spectral difference within the respective estimation information; -- a color difference within the respective estimation information; -- a trained machine learning algorithm applied to the respective estimation information, in particular to the first and second estimation information.
6. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - if the determination of a first and/or a second edge results in a plurality of first or second edge candidates, automatically determine a first edge based on the first edge candidates and/or a second edge based on the second edge candidates.
7. The imaging device according to the preceding claim, configured to: - determine the first and/or second edge (122, 124) as one or more of: -- the edge candidate with the largest length; -- the edge candidate along which a maximal intensity change is determined; -- the edge candidate along which the sum of intensity changes is maximal.
8. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - if the determination of a first and/or a second edge (122, 124) results in a plurality of first or second edge candidates: -- display the edge candidates at a user interface; -- obtain a user information related to one or more edge candidates; -- determine the first edge and/or the second edge based on the obtained user information.
9. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - divide the first edge (122) and/or the second edge (124) into multiple segments (210, 212, 214, 216, 220, 222, 224, 226); - determine a distance (230, 232, 234, 236) of the layer for each segment.
10. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - determine multiple distance candidates at different locations between the first and the second edge; - determine the distance as the distance candidate with the shortest distance.
11. The imaging device according to the preceding claim, configured to: - determine further multiple distance candidates in a vicinity of the previously determined distance; and - determine a second distance as the further distance candidate with the shortest distance.
12. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - determine a protruding point at the first edge and/or at the second edge; and - determine the distance based on one or both protruding points.
13. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - determine a centerline (310) of the layer based on the determined first and second edge (122, 124); and - determine one or more distances of the layer (320, 322), wherein one distance is determined as a line between the two edges that perpendicularly crosses the centerline.
14. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - determine a convex side (420) of the first and/or second edge (410) and/or of a part of the first and/or second edge (410); and - determine a distance (430, 432) between the opposing sides of the respective edge.
15. The imaging device according to one of the preceding claims, configured to: - determine a plurality of thicknesses for the layer; - determine one or more of: -- a maximum thickness of the layer; -- a minimum thickness of the layer; -- an average thickness of the layer; -- a parameter that indicates a variation of a thickness of a layer.
16. A computer-implemented method for determining a thickness of a layer within an image, comprising the steps: - obtaining an image of a sample with one or more layers (100); - obtaining from a user interface a first estimation information (140) indicating a location of a first edge of a layer; - obtaining from the user interface a second estimation information (150) indicating a location of a second edge of the layer; - determining the first edge (122) of the layer based on the first estimation information; - determining the second edge (124) of the layer based on the second estimation information; - determining a distance (160) between the first edge and the second edge.
17. Computer program with a program code for performing the method according to the preceding claim when the computer program is run on a processor.

Description

Technical Field This disclosure is related to devices for thickness measurement of sample layers and to methods to operate devices for thickness measurement. Background In imaging, such as microscopic analysis of a sample, thickness of one or more layers of or within a sample can be an important parameter. Current products on the market require users to manually identify points between which a distance is measured. These operations are time-consuming and complex, and may require extensive manual input and user knowledge. Automatic measurement methods, which also exist, often measure distances that do not represent a thickness of a desired layer, because they identify wrong measurement points. Improvements for layer thickness measurement are desirable. Summary An object of the present disclosure is to improve a layer thickness measurement in imaging systems. This object is solved by the disclosed embodiments, which are defined in particular by the subject matter of the independent claims. The dependent claims provide information for further embodiments. Various aspects and embodiments of these aspects are also disclosed in the summary and description below, which provide additional features and advantages. A first aspect of the present disclosure is related to an imaging device for determining a thickness of a layer comprised in an image, configured to: obtain an image of a sample with one or more layers ;obtain from a user interface a first estimation information indicating a location of a first edge of a layer;obtain from the user interface a second estimation information indicating a location of a second edge of the layer;determine the first edge of the layer based on the first estimation information;determine the second edge of the layer based on the second estimation information;determine a distance between the first edge and the second edge. To obtain an image can comprise receiving and/or a fetching of image information related to this image. Additionally or alternatively, obtaining an image can comprise determining this information based on other received/fetched information. The imaging device can be configured to examine objects that are difficult to be seen by the naked eye. An example of the imaging device can be a microscope, such as a widefield or brightfield microscope, a transmitted light microscope, a reflected light microscope, a phase contrast microscope, etc. Microscopes also include macroscopes and stereoscopes. Another example for the imaging device is an endoscope, and another example is an exoscope. The sample can be of any sample type that can be examined by said imaging device and can be an organic or an inorganic sample. Additionally or alternatively, the sample can comprise any other elements or molecules. For example, the sample can be a tissue or rock or made of another material, e.g., plastic or metal or a compound thereof. The sample can be opaque or transparent or in any state in between. Because of the one or more layers that are visible in the image taken by the imaging device, the image shows corresponding edge lines, wherein two adjacent layers may be separated from each other by one of the edge lines. The user interface can be a component of the imaging device. Alternatively, the user interface can be separate from the imaging device and connected to it for data transmission. In particular, the user interface may comprise a display, configured to show the image obtained by the imaging device to a user. The user interface may has an input module via which the user can input information, for example the first and the second estimation information. The user interface can, for instance, comprise e.g. one or more of the following: a touch display, a pointing device (e.g., a computer mouse or trackball or trackpad, a computer keyboard, a stylus, etc.), an audio-detecting device, and/or a gesture detecting device. To determine the first and the second edge of one of the layers shown in the image, the imaging device is configured to receive or obtain user inputs characterizing the first and the second estimation information, respectively, by means of the user interface. For example, the user marks a shape that follows and/or is congruent with the edges or at least one or more discrete points located on the respective edge. Additionally or alternatively, the user provides information unrelated to a single pattern in the image, i.e. based on the users experience only and/or on a plurality of imaged artifacts. By means of an algorithm (which can be a software module), being a component of the imaging device, the edges of said layer are determined basing on the obtained first and second estimation information. A determination of the first and/or the second edge may be based on interpolation, extrapolation of the user information. Additionally or alternatively, a determination may be based on a model to compute an edge based on user information. Additionally or alternatively, a deter