Local Correlation Metric for Assessing the Quality of Combined AFM Images

The problem of assessing the quality of combining component images formed in two synchronous channels of an atomic force microscope (AFM images), is considered. A computationally simple quality metric for combining component AFM images, based on local correlation coefficients is proposed, taking into account the contribution of each of the component AFM images to the resulting combined AFM image and the correlation between component AFM images. It is shown that local correlation provides a higher accuracy of AFM images combination quality estimation in comparison to the global correlation.