Nondestructively determining the essential parameters that describe
the structure of a semiconductor wafer is a challenging inverse
problem.  We describe use of an optical inspection technology and show
that it can be used effectively in conjunction with genetic
algorithms (GAs) and local optimization methods.  We also use this concrete
application to investigate GA/local search hybrids, compare them to simulated
annealing, and investigate the value of the recombination operator
relative to the ``random crossover'' variant suggested by T. Jones.