SBIR Phase I: NM/N5: A Fast, Wide-Field Nano-Precision Metrology Microscope Using a Time-Multiplexed and Multi-Frequency Synchronous Detection

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将建立一个宽视场光学显微镜转化为实时成像/计量系统的可行性。 该系统将具有优于10纳米的空间分辨率，当用作宽视场光学显微镜时，并且当用作纳米级颗粒的位置跟踪器时优于1埃。 最近的进展，达到有效的分辨率低于瑞利衍射极限的~200 nm，刺激了研究领域的医学成像和微观计量。 然而，这些光学显微镜和干涉仪依赖于在图像传感器上形成的时间图像用于强度和相位图计算，这使得难以将测量与振动和其他噪声隔离。 为了缓解这一问题，我们将开发一种系统，该系统集成了（1）有源光电混频方法，以在单帧采集时间内提供快速、同步的相位-幅度检测，具有高信噪比和动态范围，（2）皮米分辨率运动扫描仪，用于通过实时超分辨率图像重建精确主动定位像素和/或结构化照明图案，以及（3）一个实时信号处理引擎，以解决复杂的逆滤波器问题，使快速处理和更好的图像分辨率。更广泛的影响/商业潜力，该项目是提供一个经济的附加解决方案，光学显微镜，以提高观察和计量性能的水平，这是可比得多昂贵的电子显微镜或扫描探针系统。 由此产生的附加系统将使许多研究人员和工业用户能够以传统高分辨率成像系统的一小部分成本显着提高其现有光学显微镜的性能。 该系统有望提高生物医学科学、半导体器件、数据存储和光学元件等领域的制造工艺评估和质量检测的成像生产率。 新的成像能力，结合定量相位测量能力，不仅适用于生命科学，（例如，用于了解活细胞中分子水平的系统行为），而且对于半导体制造商，高精度光学元件制造商，以及其他涉及纳米材料和系统的制造和检测的人员。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will establish the feasibility of transforming a wide-field optical microscope into a real-time imaging/metrology system. The system will have a spatial resolution better than 10 nanometers, when used as a wide-field optical microscope, and better than 1 Angstrom when used as a position tracker for nanoscale particles. Recent progress reaching effective resolutions below the Rayleigh diffraction limit of ~200 nm has spurred research in the fields of medical imaging and micro metrology. However, these optical microscopes and interferometers rely on a temporal image formed on an image sensor for the intensity and phase map calculation, which makes it difficult to isolate the measurement from vibration and other noise. In order to mitigate this issue, we will develop a system which integrates (1) an active optoelectronic mixing method to provide fast, synchronous phase-amplitude detection within a single frame acquisition time with high signal-to-noise and dynamic range, (2) a picometer-resolution motion scanner for precise active positioning of the pixel and/or structured illumination pattern with real-time super-resolution image reconstruction and (3) a real-time signal processing engine to solve the complicated inverse filter problem, to allow fast processing and better image resolution.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is to provide an economical add-on solution to optical microscopes to enhance observation and metrology performance to a level which is comparable to much more expensive electron microscopy or scanning probe systems. The resulting add-on system will allow many researchers and industrial users to significantly enhance their existing optical microscopes' performance at a fraction of the cost of conventional high-resolution imaging systems. The proposed system is expected to increase imaging productivity for manufacturing process evaluation and quality inspection in the fields of biomedical science, semiconductor devices, data storage and optical components. The new imaging capability, integrated with a quantitative phase measurement capability, is not only useful for life science (for example, for understanding system behavior at the molecular level in living cells), but also vital for inspecting and measuring surface parameters and nanoscale particle behavior for semiconductor manufacturers, makers of high precision optical components, and others involved in the fabrication and inspection of nanoscale materials and systems.