JPH05323197A - Confocal microscope device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a small-sized, practical confocal microscope which eliminates the need for a mechanical scanning mechanism and can make a high-speed scan, and is free from the problem of vibration, etc. CONSTITUTION:A surface light emission type light source means which has many light emitting elements 1a and 1b arrayed on a specific plane and a two-dimensional image pickup means 30 which has many light receiving elements 30a and 30b are used; and the light emitting elements 1a and 1b are made to illuminate in order for scanning and only the conjugate light receiving elements 30a and 30b corresponding to the light emitting elements 1a and 1b receive their lights in order. The substantial scanning is performed under the control,so no mechanical scanning mechanism is required and a confocal scan type microscope having no movable part is obtained. Then a field lens 2 for converging luminous flux from a light source 1 is provided as a lighting optical means which converges the illumination luminous flux from the light source means 1 to improve the uniformity of the illuminance at the peripheral part of a picture plane, thereby obtaining the small-sized, practical constitution.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a microscope apparatus, and more particularly to a scanning confocal microscope.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Confocal scanning microscopes have come to be used in many fields because they have the following advantages as compared with conventional imaging microscopes. (1) The flare light overlapping the observed image and the blurred image can be removed, the S / N ratio of the optical system can be dramatically improved, and it is possible to observe a sample with low reflectance and low contrast. More specifically, the field of view is limited to 10 ⁻³ by pinhole illumination and the optical noise such as flare is reduced to 10 ⁻⁶ as compared with the imaging microscope, so that the contrast of the image is significantly improved. Further, in the case of a sample having thickness and irregularities, the light of the image blurred in the front and back is removed by the pinhole diaphragm, so that the contrast is further improved. (In general, the effect of flare is greater at lower magnifications, and the effect of blurred images is greater at higher magnifications.) (2) Since the S / N ratio of images is high, the light irradiation amount can be reduced,
This can reduce the light irradiation damage on the sample. (3) Comparing the case where lenses with the same wavelength and the same numerical aperture are used, the effective horizontal resolution is improved by about 50% and the depth of focus is reduced to about half, so the resolution in the optical axis (vertical) direction is It is improved about twice. Therefore, when it is used for measurement, the measurement accuracy in the vertical and horizontal directions is improved accordingly.

[0003]

Although the conventional confocal scanning microscope has such excellent points, it is necessary to relatively scan the object to be inspected and the focal point of the beam. A scanning mechanism was essential. Specifically, the light beam from the laser light source is focused on the object plane by an objective lens, and the object plane is scanned using a mechanical scanning mirror or an acousto-optic deflector, and placed near the image plane. It was necessary to have a structure for receiving light through the pinhole. For this reason, it is difficult to reduce the size and weight of the device because the scanning mechanism is complicated and large-scaled, and it is generally difficult to perform high-speed scanning with a mechanical scanning type having a mechanically movable portion. However, the problems of noise and vibration were unavoidable.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact and practical confocal microscope which does not require a mechanical scanning mechanism, can perform high-speed scanning, and is free from problems such as vibration.

[0005]

A confocal microscope according to the present invention uses surface emitting light source means having a large number of light emitting elements arranged on a predetermined plane and two-dimensional image pickup means having a large number of light receiving elements. The configuration is such that a large number of light emitting elements are sequentially emitted and scanned, and only conjugate light receiving elements corresponding to the respective light emitting elements sequentially receive light.

Specifically, the surface emitting light source means as described above, and an illumination optical means for converging the illumination light flux on the surface of the object to be inspected, which has a field lens for converging the light flux from the light source surface. An objective optical means for condensing a light beam from the object surface to be examined on a predetermined image surface, a two-dimensional image pickup means having a large number of light receiving elements arranged on the image surface of the objective optical means, and the surface. Control means for causing the light emitting elements of the light emitting type light source means to emit light in time series, and sequentially setting the light receiving elements on the two-dimensional image pickup means, which are conjugated with the light emitting elements, to the sequentially receivable state, and the two-dimensional image pickup means. A signal processing means for obtaining information on the object surface to be inspected based on an output signal.

As the control means for synchronously controlling the surface-emitting light source means and the two-dimensional image pickup means, the light-emitting elements of the surface-emitting light source means are made to sequentially emit light row by row, and the surface-emitting light source means is arranged to emit light. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the light receiving elements of one line on the two-dimensional image pickup means which are mutually conjugated with the light emitting elements of one column are sequentially made ready to receive light.

[0008]

According to the present invention as described above, the time-sequential light emission of the light emitting elements of the surface light emitting type light source means and the sequential light reception of the light receiving elements on the two-dimensional image pickup means corresponding thereto are substantially controlled. Since scanning is performed, a mechanical scanning mechanism is not required at all, and a simple and compact structure with no moving parts can be obtained. In other words, according to the present invention, basically, the point light sources themselves are sequentially emitted without scanning the light beam by a plurality of point light sources having the same number of pixels of the image (detector), and in synchronization with this, on the detector. Substantially confocal scanning is realized by sequentially receiving light by the point light-receiving element. Moreover,
Since the principal ray of the luminous flux emitted from the surface emitting light source means is converged by the field lens so as to be directed toward the center of the entrance pupil of the objective lens, the luminous flux from the light source is efficiently guided to the surface of the object to be inspected, and the observation image It is possible to illuminate with a sufficient amount of light even in the peripheral portion of, and it is possible to maintain the uniformity of illuminance.

Further, the light-emitting elements of the surface-emitting light source means are made to sequentially emit light one by one, and one-line light-receiving elements on the two-dimensional image pickup means which are mutually conjugated with the one-row light-emitting elements on the surface-emitting light source means. In the configuration in which the light beams are sequentially received, it is possible to easily obtain a good confocal microscope image by relatively simple control. Then, the beam splitter splits the light flux from each light emitting element of the surface emitting light source means through the objective lens of the objective optical system onto the object surface to be inspected, thereby making the reflection type confocal microscope extremely small. Can be configured.

Here, as the surface emitting light source means, for example, a highly integrated microlaser as described in Nikkei Science January 1992, pages 74 to 82, or a two-dimensional surface emitting laser which is being developed. It is effective to use a laser diode array (called an LD array or a micro laser array or the like). Like this 2
The three-dimensional laser diode array has a large number of light emitting elements on the substrate S as shown in the perspective view of FIG. 2, as introduced in “Parity” issued by Maruzen Co., Ltd., November 1991, pp. 54-57. It is arranged. As a two-dimensional image pickup means, a MOS type image sensor or CC
It is possible to use a D image sensor.

In the basic configuration of the confocal microscope having the above-mentioned surface-emitting light source means and two-dimensional image pickup means, in order to obtain a practical configuration, the performance and arrangement of each element are as follows.
It is desirable to satisfy the configuration. In particular, each point light source of the surface emitting type light source means needs to have an appropriate directivity, and in the illumination optical means, a field lens, a deflection plate, and a 1/4 wavelength plate for improving utilization efficiency and reducing flare. is necessary. Hereinafter, each of the specific examination items will be described in detail.

(1) Directionality and utilization efficiency of light source and selection of light source Half-divergence angle θLD of a coherent beam such as a laser beam
Is θLD≈λ / (2Δ) where Δ is the diameter of the light source (array spacing) and λ is the wavelength. This is considerably smaller than the half-divergence angle θ LED of other incoherent LEDs, which is as large as 30 ° or more,
In fact, it has excellent directivity with a few degrees or less.

On the other hand, the half angle of view θob of the illumination light beam incident on the objective lens which also functions as a condenser lens when it is constructed as a reflection type microscope, as shown in FIG. 5, is the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens 20 and the objective lens. With the magnification β of 20, θ ob = NA / β, which is about several degrees. Here, the light source utilization efficiency η
Is the half-divergence angle of the light flux from the light source, then η =
It is given as (θob / θ) ² . From this equation, it can be seen that the smaller the divergence angle, the higher the efficiency, and that laser light from a laser diode (LD) or the like is more advantageous than an LED.

The divergence angle of the laser light depends on the array spacing (effective light source diameter) together with the wavelength, but is determined as follows. That is, in order to make the best use of the resolution δ of the optical system, it is desirable to arrange the cells of the LD array at intervals of half the resolution so that the relationship of Δ≈β · δ / 2 holds.

Here, the resolution δ of the confocal microscope is δ≈0.45 · λ / NA according to Rayleigh's standard, and when the LD arrays are arranged at intervals of half the resolution, the half divergence angle θLD of the LD array is Is θLD = (NA / β) /0.45=θob/0.45, and therefore the utilization efficiency η of the LD array in this case is η = (0.45) ² = 0.2, that is, 20%.

By the way, by eliminating the mechanical scanning mechanism,
The configuration of a confocal microscope using the sequential blinking of an array of light sources and a light source synchronization type imaging device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No.
As suggested by the publication, since an LED array is used as a light source, its divergence angle is as large as 30 ° at a half divergence angle, and in the case of θob = 0.024 (β = 40 ×, NA = 0.95),
Utilization efficiency η is 0.2%, which is 1/100 of the LD array.
It is just a low utilization efficiency. Therefore, the amount of light is insufficient and flare (optical noise) is 99.8% (signal
Therefore, it is practically difficult to configure the LED array as a light source to form a confocal microscope.

(2) Low utilization efficiency and countermeasure against flare The utilization efficiency of the LD array is much higher than that of the LED as described above and is about 20%, but still, unnecessary noise (flare) of about 4 times the signal is generated. Will occur.
Therefore, it is still insufficient when observing or measuring a sample with an effective reflectance of 0.1%. Therefore,
As shown in FIG. 1, it is extremely effective to remove flare light by using a polarizing plate, a quarter-wave plate, and a polarizing beam splitter.

(3) Effective utilization of off-axis light (uniform illumination) When constructing a practical device, it is necessary to consider the peripheral part of the screen as well, and not only the axial light flux from the light source but also the axial light flux. It is also important to consider the external light flux. In particular,
For example, in order to keep the size of the entire apparatus within 50 mm, as shown in FIG. 6, the object-image distance L is 40 mm and the used wavelength λ is 5 mm.
With a thickness of 50 nm, the following structure is obtained.

When the screen size (diagonal length, image diameter) is φ, the half angle of view ω is ω≈φ / (2L). Below 2
Regarding two array intervals, a normal field of view (NT) is used for (a) a large NA high magnification of a dry system (Δ≈5 μm) and (b) a medium low magnification of a dry system (Δ≈2.5 μm).
Calculation results for the SC system) and wide field of view (HDTV system) are shown. The half angle of view of a normal microscope is ω ≈ 10/1
It is about 95 = 0.05 rad (2.9 °).

As shown in the table below, in a wide field of view for HDTV, the angle of view becomes larger than the divergence angle of the laser (ω> θL
D) Therefore, a field lens is indispensable. Also, N
Even in the case of the normal field of view for the TSC system, the field lens is still necessary in order to ensure the uniformity of illumination in the peripheral part of the field of view. (A) Numerical aperture NA = 0.95, magnification β = 40, focal length f≈1
mm, resolution δ = 0.26 μm Array spacing Δ≈5 μm θLD≈0.053 rad (3 °) θob = NA / β = 0.024 rad (1.4 °) HDTV NTSC Number of pixels (LD array): 1920 × 1080 640 × 480 fields of view Diameter φ: 11mm 4mm Half angle of view ω: 0.14rad (7.9 °) 0.05rad (2.9 °) Necessity of field lens: Indispensable Necessary Polarizer, necessity of 1/4 wavelength plate: Necessary (b) Numerical aperture NA = 0.5, magnification β = 10, focal length f≈3.
3 mm, δ = 0.5 μm, numerical aperture NA = 0.2, magnification β = 4, focal length f≈6.7 mm,
δ = 1.2 μm numerical aperture NA = 0.1, magnification β = 2, focal length f≈10 mm,
When δ = 2.5 μm Array spacing Δ≈2.5 μm θLD≈0.11 rad (3 °) θob = NA / β = 0.05 rad (2.9 °) HDTV NTSC Number of pixels (LD array): 1920 × 1080 640 × 480 Field of view diameter φ: 5.5mm 2mm Half angle of view ω: 0.069rad (3.9 °) 0.025rad (1.4 °) Necessity of field lens: Necessary Necessary Polarizing plate, need of 1/4 wavelength plate: Necessary Necessary

[0021]

EXAMPLES The present invention will be described below based on examples. FIG. 1 is a schematic optical path diagram showing the basic configuration of a confocal microscope apparatus according to the present invention. This example is a configuration example in which a finite optical system is used as an objective lens of a confocal microscope.
The light flux from the point light emitting element 1a on the LD array 1 as the surface emitting light source means reaches the polarization beam splitter 4 through the field lens 2 and the polarizing plate 3, and is reflected there, and then is reflected by the quarter wavelength plate 5 Through the objective lens 20 and focused on the object plane 10. In the field lens 2, the principal ray of the light flux from each point light emitting element 1 a is the objective lens 20.
And the illumination light flux from each point light emitting element is efficiently converged by the objective lens 20. The light beam reflected from the object plane 10 is transmitted through the quarter-wave plate 5 and the polarization beam splitter 4 by the action of the objective lens 20, and is received by the light receiving element 30a of the two-dimensional image pickup means 30.
Focused on top. Here, the point light emitting element 1a on the surface emitting light source means is conjugated with the object plane 10 and the light receiving element 30a on the two-dimensional image pickup means 30, respectively, and the light flux from the point light emitting element 1a is condensed on the light receiving element 30a. To be done.

In this structure, the field lens 2,
The polarizing plate 3, the beam splitter 4, the quarter-wave plate 5 and the objective lens constitute illumination optical means, and the objective lens 20,
The quarter-wave plate 5 constitutes an objective optical means, the objective lens is shared by both optical systems, and the objective lens functions as a condenser lens in the illumination optical means. When the point light emitting element 1a on the surface emitting light source means has finished emitting light for a predetermined time, the adjacent light emitting element 1b similarly emits light for a predetermined time, and each element emits light sequentially. This light emitting operation is performed by the control means 40 via the driving means 41 of the surface emitting light source means 1. Then, in synchronization with this light emitting operation, each light receiving element 30 on the two-dimensional image pickup means 30.
In a and 30b, the light receiving state is sequentially switched by the driving means 42, and the control means 40 controls so as to extract the signal from only the light receiving element conjugated to each light emitting element. Here, it is ideal that each light receiving element on the two-dimensional image pickup means 30 can receive light only within the light emitting time of each light emitting element corresponding thereto. However, one light receiving element line corresponding to the point light emitting element row on the two-dimensional image pickup means while the plurality of point light emitting elements arranged in one example on the surface emitting light source means sequentially emit light. A configuration is also possible in which only the light receiving element line corresponding to the row can be sequentially received when the light emission of the point light emitting element is moved to the next row.

Specifically, the light emitted from the LD array 1 is deflected by the field lens 2 in the direction of the entrance pupil, becomes a horizontally polarized light (S-polarized light) by the polarizer 3, and has a maximum reflectance by the polarization beam splitter 4. Is reflected by. Then, the quarter-wave plate 5 becomes circularly polarized light and enters the finite system objective lens 20,
A spot image with a diffraction limit is formed on the object plane 10,
The reflected light again enters the finite objective lens 20. This light becomes linearly polarized light (P-polarized light) by passing through the quarter-wave plate 5 again, is transmitted by the polarization beam splitter 4 at the maximum transmittance, and is condensed on the two-dimensional image pickup device 30. Here, the respective elements of the LD array 1 and the two-dimensional image pickup element 30 are at conjugate positions with each other and are synchronized in time. Also, as a matter of course, the relationship between the imaging magnification and the pixel is the same.

The light receiving signals from the respective light receiving elements on the two-dimensional image pickup means 30 are sequentially taken into the signal processing means 43 and arranged in accordance with the light emitting order of the respective elements of the surface emitting light source means from the control means 40. Thus, the two-dimensional image information on the object plane 10 can be output and displayed as an image on the desired display device 50. Although the LD array is configured to sequentially emit light in the above-described configuration, if the configuration is such that each element emits light simultaneously and the image pickup element synchronizes to receive light over the entire surface, it can be used as a conventional imaging microscope. it can. The polarizer 3 and the quarter-wave plate 5 may be omitted depending on the purpose, for example, when the influence of the polarization characteristics of the sample is desired to be removed, and the relationship between the LD array 1 and the image pickup device 30 with respect to the beam splitter is changed. It is also possible to adopt a configuration in which the transmission light path of the beam splitter illuminates and the reflection light path receives light. Needless to say, the half mirror may be replaced with a half prism. It is also possible to use the field lens 2 as a Fresnel lens and attach it to the LD array 1 to integrate them. In addition, when the LD array generates linearly polarized light, the polarizer 3 is unnecessary.

When the finite objective lens is used as in the first embodiment of the present invention as described above, the number of parts of the entire apparatus is small and the size can be minimized. In the present embodiment, focusing on the object plane is performed by integrally configuring the entire apparatus including the objective lens 20 in the housing 100 and moving the housing 100. The objective optical system is not limited to the finite system as in the first embodiment, but an infinite system can be used. A schematic configuration of the second embodiment using an infinite system objective lens is shown in FIG.

In the second embodiment, the divergent light beam from the LD array 1 as the surface emitting light source means is converted into a parallel light beam by the collimator lens 6, and the infinite system objective is passed through the polarizing plate 3 and the polarizing beam splitter 4. The light enters the lens 21, and a spot image of the diffraction limit is formed on the object plane 10 as in the first embodiment. Here, the collimator lens 6 not only converts the light flux from the LD array 1 as a surface-emitting light source into a parallel light flux, but also converges the principal ray from each light source toward the center of the entrance pupil of the objective lens. It also has a function as a field lens.
Then, the reflected light flux from the object plane 10 is reflected by the objective lens 21.
To become a parallel light beam, and after passing through the quarter-wave plate 5 and the polarization beam splitter 4, the second objective lens 2
It is incident on 2 and is condensed on the light receiving element 30 a of the two-dimensional image pickup means 30.

Also in this configuration, the point light-emitting elements on the surface-emitting light source means are sequentially blinked and the light-receiving elements or the signal reading on each light-receiving element on the two-dimensional image pickup means 30 synchronized with this are performed as shown in FIG. Centralized control is performed by the same control means as in the first embodiment, and image display is performed as necessary. When an infinity system is used in this way, the number of parts increases a little, but the effects of double images and astigmatism caused by passing through a semi-transmissive mirror as a beam splitter can be eliminated. When focusing, it is not necessary to move the entire apparatus, and the objective lens barrel 200 that houses the objective lens 21 is used.
Focusing can be performed by moving only the optical axis. Even when the infinity objective lens is used, the field lens can be separately arranged near the LD array 1 as shown in FIG. 1 if necessary.

FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration diagram of a third embodiment in which the confocal microscope device according to the present invention is applied to a fluorescence microscope. In this embodiment, a finite system objective lens is basically used as in the first embodiment shown in FIG. In comparison with the first embodiment, an objective lens having chromatic aberration correction for excitation light and fluorescence is used, a dichroic mirror 8 is used as a beam splitter, and a polarizer and a quarter wavelength plate are removed. A barrier filter 23 for transmitting only a desired fluorescence wavelength is provided between the dichroic mirror 8 and the two-dimensional imaging means 30. In this configuration, it is desirable that the surface-emitting light source unit 1 emits light having a relatively short wavelength and that the two-dimensional imaging unit 30 has a high sensitivity to a relatively long wavelength. In addition, the barrier filter 23 can be removed if unnecessary for some purposes.

With such a structure, an epi-fluorescence type confocal scanning microscope can be realized, and like the above-described embodiments, it can be made much smaller than the existing epi-fluorescence type confocal scanning microscope. The device can be made lightweight and inexpensive. In FIG. 3, the control means and the like are the same as those in the first and second embodiments of FIGS. 1 and 3 and are omitted. In the configuration of the embodiment of the present invention as described above, in order to secure a certain level of image quality, the number of light emitting elements of the LD array as the surface emitting light source means and the number of pixels of the two-dimensional image pickup element are both about several hundred thousand. It is preferable to have the above. Specifically, the number of each element is the same type and the same number because it is necessary to maintain the conjugate relationship, and the number is 4
200,000 (NTSC specifications) to 2,000,000 (High-definition or HD
TV specifications) are appropriate. Then, the light emitting elements of the LD array are sequentially blinked at (number of images per second x number of LDs) Hz, and each element of the image pickup element at the conjugate position of the LD array is synchronized with each LD array element by interposing a beam splitter. It is possible. The reason why the beam splitter is a polarization beam splitter and a polarizing plate or a quarter wave plate is used is to remove light and flare returning to the LD array.

With the practical configuration of such a confocal microscope device, the following features can be obtained. (1) It can be made much smaller and lighter than a conventional microscope. LD
Since the array and the image sensor are about 1 cm square, and there is no complicated illumination optical system or mechanical scanning system, the size is 1/10 (5 cm square) if a dedicated objective lens is used.
The weight can be reduced to about 1/100 (100 g). (2) The price of the entire device can be reduced to about 1/10 of the conventional confocal scanning type.

Since an expensive mechanical scanning system and an illumination optical system are unnecessary and the LD array and the synchronous readout image pickup device are mass-produced at low cost, the price can be largely reduced. (3) Images can be acquired in real time at 30 images per second. High-speed scanning is possible due to electronic scanning by a two-dimensional LD array having no mechanical moving parts. The optical output of the LD array may be about 1 milliwatt. (4) Can also be used as a critical illumination type imaging microscope with an ultra-high-speed shutter.

By making all the LD arrays as the surface emitting light source means emit light at the same time, pulsed light emission of about μs is possible, and imaging of a moving object at a speed of about 100 mm / s is also possible as an image formation type. (100μ in the conventional imaging type
A speed of about m / s was the observable limit. By the way, in the present invention, it is possible to use the two-dimensional image pickup device and also serve as the autofocus function. In particular,
Since the confocal microscope device of the reflection type maximizes the brightness at the focus matching point, this feature facilitates the relative movement of either the object or the entire device on the optical axis. It is possible to add an autofocus function to the. Therefore, a new autofocus component is unnecessary. Also, by controlling the light emitting and receiving parts,
It is possible to freely change the focus point, number, area, etc. on the screen. In addition, if you set and input the approximate value of the focus distance of the objective lens in advance and use it together with confocal autofocus, you can easily focus even if the focus is significantly out of focus. It is possible to configure the system.

When the reflectance of the object surface changes, it is possible to obtain good confocal microscope information by changing and adjusting the light emitting time of the LD array and the light receiving time of the image pickup device. If a two-dimensional three-color LD array is used as the surface emitting LD array by using an optical system in which chromatic aberrations are corrected for the three primary colors, it is possible to observe as a color image. Furthermore, by incorporating a microprocessor and memory in the control means, it is possible to provide functions such as autofocus, focus memory, shutter adjustment, and image processing.

[0034]

As described above, the confocal microscope apparatus according to the present invention does not require any mechanical means for beam scanning, and therefore has a simpler structure than conventional confocal scanning microscopes and imaging microscopes. At the same time, the size and weight can be significantly reduced, and a practical configuration with excellent uniformity of illuminance to the peripheral portion of the screen can be realized. Therefore, it can be used not only as a microscope but also by being attached to various image measurement / inspection devices and used as an active image pickup device (image measurement input device).
Can be applied as. That is, according to the present invention, the confocal microscope device can be used as a component for measurement or a microscope sensor, and the device itself can be easily moved as appropriate. Can be expected to expand. By incorporating a microprocessor and memory, it can also be used as an intelligent sensor that has functions such as autofocus, focus memory (three-dimensional image construction), ultra-high speed shutter adjustment function, and image processing.

In particular, in the case of configuring as a reflection type microscope, it is possible to effectively increase the depth arbitrarily (three-dimensional image) by an electronic focus memory function (store and display the position of maximum brightness in each pixel). Is easy to construct and very useful in practice. In addition, it can be equipped with a function as a scanning light probing microscope such as OBIC that utilizes the internal photoelectric effect that is not in the imaging type. Since the scanning type is a sequential processing system, it has good compatibility with existing computers, image processing, Functions such as image recording and communication can be fully utilized.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic configuration diagram of a first embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a finite system microscope.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing an example of surface emitting light source means used in the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic configuration diagram of a second embodiment in which the present invention is applied to an infinite microscope.

FIG. 4 is a schematic configuration diagram of a third embodiment in which the present invention is applied to a fluorescence microscope.

FIG. 5 is an optical path diagram for explaining a state of a light beam from an axial light source that heads for an objective lens.

FIG. 6 is an optical path diagram illustrating a state of a light beam from an off-axis light source that heads for an objective lens.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Surface emitting type light source means 4 ... Beam splitter 10 ... Object surface 20, 21 ... Objective lens 30 ... Two-dimensional imaging element 40 ... Control means

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A surface emitting type light source means having a large number of light emitting elements arranged on a predetermined plane, and a field lens for converging a light beam from the light source surface, and an illumination light beam on an object surface to be inspected. An illuminating optical means for condensing light, an objective optical means for condensing a light flux from the object surface to be inspected on a predetermined image plane, and a large number of light receiving elements arranged on the image plane of the objective optical means. Two-dimensional imaging means, and control means for causing the light-emitting elements of the surface-emitting light source means to emit light in a time-series manner, and sequentially setting the light-receiving elements on the two-dimensional imaging means, which are conjugated with the light-emitting elements, in a sequentially receivable state. And a signal processing means for obtaining information on the object surface to be inspected based on an output signal from the two-dimensional imaging means. 2. A surface emitting type light source means having a large number of light emitting elements arranged on a predetermined plane, an illumination optical means for condensing a light beam from the light source surface onto an object surface to be inspected, and the object to be inspected. Objective optical means for condensing a light beam from the object plane on a predetermined image plane, two-dimensional image pickup means having a large number of light receiving elements arranged on the image plane of the objective optical means, and the surface emitting light source means. Of the light emitting elements of the surface emitting light source means and the light receiving elements of the one line on the two-dimensional image pickup means, which are conjugated with the light emitting elements on the surface emitting type light source means, are sequentially made to be capable of receiving light. A confocal microscope device comprising: means and signal processing means for obtaining information on the object surface to be inspected based on an output signal from the two-dimensional imaging means. 3. The objective optical means has an objective lens for enlarging and forming an image of the object to be inspected, and the illumination optical means is in an optical path between the objective lens and the surface-emitting light source means. 2. A light beam from each light emitting element of the surface emitting light source means is condensed on the object surface to be inspected through the objective lens having a beam splitter arranged.
2. The confocal microscope device according to any one of 1 to 3.