Patent Application
20170038315
The present application claims priority from Japanese application JP 2015-155827, filed on Aug. 6, 2015, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operation guide system for an X-ray analysis, an operation guide method therefor, and an operation guide program therefor, and more particularly, to a guidance function for a user.
Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the development of an X-ray analysis apparatus, a wide variety of users use the X-ray analysis apparatus for various analysis purposes. The X-ray analysis apparatus is no longer an apparatus used only by some skilled users, but is increasing in the opportunity of being used by users inexperienced in the X-ray analysis apparatus.
When a measurement is conducted through use of an X-ray analysis apparatus, it is desired that a user select parts suitable for a sample to be analyzed, assemble a measurement optical system, and conduct a measurement under a control condition suitable for the sample. However, it is difficult for the user inexperienced in the X-ray analysis apparatus to determine those operations in his/her own judgment.
In JP 3353496 B2, there is disclosed an analysis apparatus including setting means capable of the setting of setting data required for various kinds of analysis processing with a simple operation based on information obtained by collecting a setting procedure for data required for each of a plurality of pieces of analysis processing.
In JP 2013-137297 A and JP 2013-137298 A, there are described X-ray analysis apparatus that have functions of realizing a plurality of measuring methods and enable effective utilization of those measuring functions.
However, even with only a specific analysis purpose (measuring method), the measuring optical system and the control condition differ depending on the respective samples to be analyzed by users, and it is difficult to achieve a database configured to store measuring optical systems and control conditions that are suitable for all the samples to be possibly analyzed by the users.
Even when the X-ray analysis apparatus recommends a user a specific measuring optical system and a specific control condition for the sample to be analyzed, it is difficult for an inexperienced user to determine whether or not the measuring optical system and the control condition are suitable ones.
The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and the present invention has an object to provide an operation guide system for an X-ray analysis, an operation guide method therefor, and an operation guide program therefor, which enable a user to easily determine a measurement condition for a sample to be analyzed.
According to the present invention, the operation guide system for an X-ray analysis, the operation guide method therefor, and the operation guide program therefor, which enable a user to easily determine a measurement condition for a sample to be analyzed, are provided.
Now, an embodiment of the present invention is described referring to the drawings. For clearer illustration, some sizes, shapes, and the like are schematically illustrated in the drawings in comparison to actual ones. However, the sizes, the shapes, and the like are merely an example, and do not limit understanding of the present invention. Further, herein and in each of the drawings, like elements as those described relating to the drawings already referred to are denoted by like reference symbols, and detailed description thereof is sometimes omitted as appropriate.
The goniometer 21 is a θ-2θ rotation system, and the support base 22 is mounted on the goniometer 21 so that the sample 100 is located at a rotation center. The two light-receiving slits and the detector 27 are mounted on the goniometer 21 so as to be rotated by 2θ as the support base 22 is rotated by θ.
The X-ray generating portion 23 includes an X-ray tube, and is configured to emit X-rays to be diverged to the multilayer mirror 24. The multilayer mirror 24 includes a reflection surface having a cross section being a parabola (quadratic function). The multilayer mirror 24 is arranged such that the focus of the parabola is included in the microfocus of the X-rays emitted by the X-ray generating portion 23. Of the X-rays reflected by the multilayer mirror 24, X-rays having a predetermined wavelength are selectively reflected toward a predetermined direction due to the multilayer film structure of the multilayer mirror 24, and are collimated because the cross section of the reflection surface is a parabola, to thereby enter the incident slit 25.
The X-ray that has passed through the incident slit 25 enters the sample 100 placed on the support base 22 by an incident angle θ as an incident X-ray. In this case, the incident angle θ represents an angle formed between the optical axis of the incident X-ray and the surface of the sample 100 (surface of a film structure), and is different from the case of geometrical optics that defines the incident angle as an angle formed between an incident light beam and the normal to a reflection surface. The incident X-ray is applied to the sample 100, and the reflected X-ray is emitted from the sample 100 with a reflection angle θ (angle formed between the optical axis of the reflected X-ray and the surface of the sample 100). An angle between the reflected X-ray and the incident X-ray is 2θ.
The reflected X-ray passes through the two light-receiving slits (first light-receiving slit 26A and second light-receiving slit 26B), and the detector 27 detects the X-rays entering the detector 27. The resolution of a measuring optical system is defined by not only characteristics of the X-ray generating portion 23 and the multilayer mirror 24 but also a slit width of the incident slit 25, a slit width of each of the two light-receiving slits, and a spacing L between the two light-receiving slits. The X-ray measuring unit 2 illustrated in
The detector 27 may be any one of a zero-dimensional detector (for example, counter tube), a one-dimensional detector (for example, linear CCD sensor), and a two-dimensional detector (for example, CCD sensor). In this case, the detector 27 is a counter tube.
Next, a Description is Made of the Operation Guide Method for the X-ray analysis apparatus 1 (or operation guide system 3) according to this embodiment. As illustrated in
When the first control program 31 is started, the information output portion 14 of the control unit 4 causes the display device 6 to display an analysis purpose selection screen. The information input portion 13 of the control unit 4 acquires information input by the input device 5 including a mouse. In this case, the analysis purpose acquisition portion 41 acquires the analysis purpose selected by the user as a predetermined analysis purpose (S1: analysis purpose acquisition step).
The information output portion 14 of the control unit 4 causes the display device 6 to display a sample information input screen. The user inputs, to the X-ray measuring unit 2, the sample information on a sample to be measured for the predetermined analysis purpose, and the sample information acquisition portion 42 of the control unit 4 acquires the sample information on the sample input by the user (from the information input portion 13) (S2: sample information acquisition step). In this case, the measurement for the first analysis purpose is the measurement of the X-ray reflectivity (XRR).
The measurement condition acquisition portion 43 acquires a plurality of measurement conditions that differ from one another based on the acquired sample information (S3: measurement condition acquisition step). In this specification, the measurement conditions are assumed to include a condition for a measuring optical system (hardware) formed of a combination of a plurality of parts and a control condition (for example, scan condition) used when the measuring optical system is used for the measurement.
The storage section 12 further includes the system information storage portion 33, and the system information storage portion 33 stores a plurality of measurement conditions used for the analyses for the plurality of respective analysis purposes (M analysis purposes). Each of the plurality of measurement conditions used for the analyses for the respective analysis purposes can be achieved by the X-ray measuring unit 2. As described above, the measurement conditions include both the measuring optical system and the control condition. In this embodiment, the measuring optical system (optical system) is formed of parts included in the X-ray measuring unit 2, and those parts include slit conditions (incident slit and light-receiving slit). In this case, the optical system includes amid-resolution optical system, a high resolution optical system, an ultra-high resolution optical system, and an ultra-high resolution optical system having an analyzer crystal arranged therein. The slit conditions are selected from among a plurality of incident slits and a plurality of pairs of light-receiving slits. One measuring optical system is formed of a combination of a plurality of parts, and hence, when there are a plurality of kinds of the respective parts, a large number of measuring optical systems exist depending on the combination of those kinds of parts. In this case, the measuring optical systems included in the plurality of measurement conditions stored in the system information storage portion 33 are limited to ones that can be achieved by parts possessed by the user. This allows the measuring optical system to be recommended from the measuring optical systems that can be achieved instantaneously by the user with the currently possessed parts, and hence the user can select the measuring optical system from among the measuring optical systems that can be achieved currently. Further, there exist a plurality of control conditions used when measurements are conducted with the respective measuring optical systems, and hence there exist a large number of measurement conditions depending on the combination of the measuring optical systems and the control conditions therefor. For the sake of brevity, in this case, the optical system is assumed to include four kinds, that is, a mid-resolution optical system, a high resolution optical system, an ultra-high resolution optical system, and an ultra-high resolution optical system having an analyzer crystal arranged therein. Further, in this case, the control condition includes only a scan condition.
The measurement condition acquisition portion 43 selects a plurality of measurement conditions (N measurement conditions, where N is a natural number equal to or larger than 2) from among the (plurality of) measurement conditions stored in the system information storage portion 33 based on the sample information on the sample, and acquires the selected plurality of (N) measurement conditions. In this embodiment, three (N=3) measurement conditions are selected, and guidelines therefor are as follows. The optical system is determined based on the value of the layer thickness of the thickest layer of the film structure of the sample. In this case, because the layer thickness of the thickest layer is 200 nm, the high resolution optical system (parallel beam/light-receiving slit) is selected as a recommended optical system, and along with the mid-resolution optical system and the ultra-high resolution optical system listed before and after the high resolution optical system, three optical systems in total are selected. The slit conditions are determined based on the size of the sample. In this case, for each of the three optical systems, the incident slit 25 is set to 0.5 mm, and the two light-receiving slits are each set to 0.2 mm. In addition, the scan condition set for each of the respective optical systems is selected. With the above-mentioned configuration, three measurement conditions are selected and acquired.
The virtual result acquisition portion 44 subjects the sample information to a simulation based on each of the plurality of (N) measurement conditions, to thereby acquire a plurality of (N) virtual measurement results of measurements for the predetermined analysis purpose (S4: virtual result acquisition step). In this case, three (N=3) measurement conditions are acquired, and the simulation is executed on the assumption that the sample is subjected to the XRR measurement under each measurement condition by the X-ray measuring unit 2. The virtual measurement results thereof are acquired. In this case, three (N=3) virtual measurement results (XRRs) are acquired.
The result evaluation portion 45 evaluates the plurality of (N) virtual measurement results (S5: result evaluation step). In this case, the virtual measurement result is an XRR, and the virtual measurement result is evaluated based on, for example, whether or not the critical angle (2θ is small) or the background (BG) region (2θ is large) is covered, whether or not a step size is small enough to observe small oscillations in the XRR, and whether or not a scan speed is appropriate so that the amplitude of small oscillations in the XRR is large enough to be able to be analyzed with respect to noise.
The measurement condition selection portion 46 selects at least two of the virtual measurement results based on the evaluations of a plurality of virtual measurement results (S6: measurement condition selection step). That is, n (n is a natural number satisfying 2≦n≦N) virtual measurement results are selected from among the plurality of (N) virtual measurement results based on the evaluations of the plurality of (N) virtual measurement results executed by the result evaluation portion 45. In this case, all the three (N=3) virtual measurement results acquired by the virtual result acquisition portion 44 are selected (n=N=3). Therefore, the result evaluation step (S5) and the measurement condition selection step (S6) may be omitted, to set the plurality of (N) virtual measurement results acquired in the virtual result acquisition step (S4) as the at least two (n=N) virtual measurement results.
The comparison result output portion 47 outputs, as comparison results, at least two (n) virtual measurement results among the plurality of (N) virtual measurement results and at least two (n) of the measurement conditions respectively corresponding to the at least two virtual measurement results (S7: comparison result output step). In this case, the three measurement conditions include: the three optical systems; and the slit conditions and the scan conditions that are selected respectively corresponding to the three optical systems, while the three virtual measurement results include simulation results of the XRRs obtained when the sample is measured with the three optical systems.
In addition, the information output portion 14 of the control unit 4 causes the display device 6 to display the three virtual measurement results and the three measurement conditions output by the comparison result output portion 47. Specifically, the three virtual measurement results are displayed on a virtual measurement result screen, and the respective measurement conditions are displayed on a measurement condition screen.
As shown in
On the measurement condition screen illustrated in
When the user desires none of a plurality of (n) virtual measurement results output in the comparison result output step (S7), the user may be allowed to change at least one condition among the measurement conditions on the measurement condition screen, and to set a new measurement condition. In this case, the simulation conducted when the sample is subjected to the XRR measurement with the X-ray measuring unit 2 under the new measurement condition is executed, and a virtual measurement result under the new measurement condition is acquired (similar to the virtual result acquisition step (S4)). Then, the new measurement condition and the virtual measurement result under the new measurement condition are output (similar to the comparison result output step (S7)). When the user still does not desire the virtual measurement result under the new measurement condition, the user may change at least one condition among the measurement conditions on the measurement condition screen again, set a new measurement condition, and repeat those operations until the user obtains the desired virtual measurement result. Further, as a technology relating to the present invention, after the plurality of (N) measurement conditions acquired in the measurement condition acquisition step (S3) are output, the user may select one measurement condition from among the plurality of measurement conditions, and the simulation conducted when the sample is subjected to the XRR measurement with the X-ray measuring unit 2 under the one measurement condition may be executed. Then, a virtual measurement result under the one measurement condition may be acquired and output. When the user does not desire the virtual measurement result under the one measurement condition, the user may change at least one condition among the measurement conditions on the measurement condition screen, set a new measurement condition, then execute the simulation, acquire the virtual measurement result under the new measurement condition, output the virtual measurement result, and repeat those operations. In addition, as another relating condition, the simulation may be executed under the one measurement condition (recommended measurement condition) acquired in the measurement condition acquisition step (S3) or one measurement condition initially set at first by the user himself/herself, and a virtual measurement result under the one measurement condition may be acquired and output. When the user does not desire the virtual measurement result under the one measurement condition, the user may repeat the setting of the measurement condition and the acquisition of the virtual measurement result until the user obtains the desired virtual measurement result in the same manner.
The present invention has a main feature that virtual result acquisition means acquires a plurality of virtual measurement results through simulations based on a plurality of respective measurement conditions, and comparison result output means outputs, as comparison results, at least two virtual measurement results (and at least two measurement conditions) among the acquired plurality of virtual measurement results (and the plurality of measurement conditions). The comparison results allow the user to determine the recommended measurement condition based on a comparison with another measurement condition, and hence even a user inexperienced in an X-ray analysis apparatus can easily determine a measurement condition for a sample to be analyzed.
In this embodiment, the recommended measurement condition can be determined relatively easily based on the film structure of the sample and the size of the sample. However, in some cases, the recommended measurement condition cannot be determined easily for another analysis purpose or the like. In that case, in the measurement condition acquisition step (S3), the measurement condition acquisition portion 43 may acquire N (N is a relatively large natural number) measurement conditions. In the measurement condition selection step (S6), the measurement condition selection portion 46 may select n (n is a natural number relatively smaller than N; n<N) virtual measurement results based on the evaluations of N virtual measurement results.
The actual measurement result acquisition portion 48 acquires an actual measurement result of an actual measurement conducted for the sample with the X-ray measuring unit 2 based on one measurement condition selected from among at least two measurement conditions (SA: actual measurement result acquisition step). The actual measurement result acquisition portion 48 may acquire the actual measurement result from the X-ray measuring unit 2, or may acquire the actual measurement result from the storage section 12 in which the actual measurement result is stored by the measuring program. Further, the actual measurement result acquisition portion 48 acquires the sample information, the measurement condition, and the virtual measurement result that are stored in the storage section 12.
The actual measurement result analysis portion 49 analyzes the actual measurement result based on the sample information and one measurement condition (SB: actual measurement result analysis step). It is examined whether or not there is no problem in the actual measurement result, for example, whether or not the amplitude of the small oscillations observed in the actual measurement result (actual measurement data) of the sample has no problem (is sufficiently large) compared with the amplitude of the corresponding oscillations observed in the virtual measurement result (or logical data). In that case, it is also examined, for example, whether or not a critical angle (2θ is small) or a background (BG) region (2θ is large) is covered, or whether or not the step size is appropriate.
After it is determined that there is no problem in the actual measurement result, the analysis of the actual measurement result is conducted. The analysis can be executed more easily and speedily through use of the sample information and the virtual measurement result during the analysis. Then, it is determined whether or not an R value (index of suitability of the actual measurement result with respect to the logical data) of an analysis result is sufficiently small. For example, when the R value is equal to or smaller than 5%, it is determined that the analysis result has been executed correctly.
When an abnormality is found in the analysis result, the analysis is conducted again. For example, when undulations or an oscillating structure is observed in a residual pattern, the existence of another layer in the film structure of the sample is suggested. In this case, the residual pattern represents a pattern obtained by subtracting the XRR calculated from the analysis result from the XRR of the actual measurement result. Even when neither the undulations nor the oscillating structure is observed in the residual pattern, it is conceivable that the surface layer may be oxidized and that a new layer has been generated in an interface. In those cases, the analysis may be conducted again by adding a new layer to the film structure of the sample. It is also conceivable that the designed film structure and the actually generated film structure differ from each other. In that case, the analysis may be conducted again by modifying a model of the film structure to an expected model.
An analysis result determination screen may be generated by setting respective contents described above as check items, and the information output portion 14 of the control unit 4 may display the analysis result determination screen on a display unit. The user confirms whether or not there is no problem in a plurality of check items displayed on the analysis result determination screen, and when there is no problem, clicks the OK button to bring the second control program 32 to an end. When there is a problem in the check items, the analysis is conducted again.
The operation guide method for the X-ray analysis apparatus 1 (or operation guide system 3) according to this embodiment is described above. The above description is made by taking an example of selecting the first analysis purpose (analysis of, for example, the film thickness of the thin-film sample) as the analysis purpose, but the same applies to the case where another analysis purpose is selected. As another example, a description is made of a case where, in the analysis purpose acquisition step (S1), the user selects “qualitative, quantitative, and structural analysis of powder/polycrystalline sample” (hereinafter referred to as “second analysis purpose”) on the analysis purpose selection screen illustrated in
As described above, the operation guide method is executed by the first control program 31, and the recommended measurement condition is selected.
The X-ray analysis apparatus, the operation guide system therefor, the operation guide method therefor, and the operation guide program therefor according to the embodiment of the present invention have been described above. The present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and can be widely applied. It should be understood that the analysis purpose of the X-ray analysis apparatus is not limited to the above-mentioned four analysis purposes. Further, the measuring optical systems included in the measurement conditions stored in the system information storage portion 33 are limited to ones that can be achieved by parts possessed by the user. However, for example, the stored measuring optical systems may include one that can be achieved by parts that are not possessed by the user, and when the user does not possess a part included in the recommended measuring optical system, the virtual measurement results of both the recommended measuring optical system and the measuring optical system that can be achieved by the parts possessed by the user can be output as the comparison results, to thereby, for example, inform the user of an advantage of the recommended measuring optical system and propose the purchase of the part that is not possessed. Further, in the above-mentioned embodiment, the first control program 31, the second control program 32, and the known measuring program are programs independent of one another, but may be executed as one program.
While there have been described what are at present considered to be certain embodiments of the invention, it will be understood that various modifications may be made thereto, and it is intended that the appended claims cover all such modifications as fall within the true spirit and scope of the invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2015-155827 | Aug 2015 | JP | national |
