US 11,808,565 B2
Characterizing a sample by material basis decomposition
Andrea Brambilla, Veurey-Voroize (FR); Alexia Gorecki, Grenoble (FR); and Alexandra Potop, Grenoble (FR)
Assigned to Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, Paris (FR)
Filed by Commissariat a L'Energie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives, Paris (FR)
Filed on Feb. 25, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/185,092.
Application 17/185,092 is a continuation of application No. 15/181,882, filed on Jun. 14, 2016, granted, now 10,969,220.
Claims priority of application No. 15 55438 (FR), filed on Jun. 15, 2015.
Prior Publication US 2021/0199429 A1, Jul. 1, 2021
This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.
Int. Cl. G01B 15/02 (2006.01); G01N 23/02 (2006.01); G01N 23/087 (2018.01)
CPC G01B 15/02 (2013.01) [G01N 23/02 (2013.01); G01N 23/087 (2013.01); G01N 2223/03 (2013.01); G01N 2223/302 (2013.01); G01N 2223/304 (2013.01); G01N 2223/401 (2013.01); G01N 2223/423 (2013.01); G01N 2223/50 (2013.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method for improving accuracy of a characterization of a sample by material basis decomposition, the method comprising:
acquiring, by circuitry comprising a memory and a detector connected to a processor, a spectrum transmitted through the sample, said spectrum being an energy spectrum defined by a number of photons transmitted through the sample in each channel of a plurality of energy channels located in an X spectral band and/or a gamma spectral band;
acquiring, by said memory, plural calibration spectra, wherein each of the calibration spectra corresponds to a calibration spectrum transmitted through a stack including plural gauge blocks, each gauge block of the stack including a different calibration material so that the stack includes plural calibration materials having respective thicknesses, each calibration spectrum of the plural calibration spectra corresponding to a respective stack including a different set of the respective thicknesses compared to other stacks corresponding to other calibration spectra of the plural calibration spectra;
calculating, by said circuitry, values of a likelihood function from said acquired calibration spectra and the acquired spectrum transmitted through the sample;
determining, by said circuitry, a maximum likelihood value from among the calculated values of the likelihood function, the determined maximum likelihood value corresponding to a particular acquired calibration spectrum being most similar to the acquired spectrum transmitted through the sample; and
outputting, from the circuitry, a plurality of estimated characteristic thicknesses, each of the outputted estimated characteristic thicknesses being associated with a different respective calibration material, from the stack of gauge blocks of the particular acquired calibration spectrum corresponding to said determined maximum likelihood value.