Granulometry is the process of measuring the size distribution of objects in an image of granular material. Usually, algorithms based on mathematical morphology or edge detection are used for this task. We propose a entirely new approach for the granulometry using the cross correlations with circles of different sizes. This technique is primarily adequate for detecting circular-shaped objects, but it can be extended to other shapes using other correlation kernels. Experiments show that the new

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... lgorithm is greatly robust to noise and can detect even faint objects. This paper also reports the quantitative structural characteristics of the porous silicon layer based on the proposed algorithm applied to Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images. The new algorithm computes the size distribution of pores and classifies the pores in circular or square ones. We relate these quantitative results to the fabrication process and discuss the square porous silicon formation mechanism. The new algorithm shows to be reliable in SEM images processing and is a promising tool to control the pores formation process.