JP2001176438A - Electron microscope and remote operation system thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system that can easily execute support of its operation, at remote operation of an electron microscope or the like from the side of its instrument, when there occurs a state which can hardly be solved with the remote operation unit. SOLUTION: Operation support is made possible by adopting a system constitution that can operate from both the body and remote operation consoles. Consequently, smooth and effective remote operation becomes possible, when a situation requiring the support of operation from the instrument proper takes place at remote operation.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an operating device such as a transmission electron microscope for remotely operating a main body device at a place away from a place where the main body device is placed.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventional remote operation is an extremely simple operation, so that operation support from a main unit is unnecessary.

[0003]

In the case of a transmission electron microscope, operation support from a remote place is usually adjustment of an electron beam or selection of a visual field of an observation sample. The former is a very delicate operation, and even if the remote device is provided with an adjustment function, the operation requires extremely advanced technology, so it is difficult to execute the operation with the remote device. Operational support on the main unit is required during remote operation because the delay time is long and the sample feeding knob of the remote control console requires the downsizing of the device, so that the same operability as the main console cannot be expected. Work. As a technique for enabling the operation support, a system and a hardware configuration that enable the operation of the main unit from both the main console signal and the remote console signal are employed.

[0004]

A circuit for synthesizing a console signal of a remote device received from a communication line is provided in a general control device for detecting and controlling a console signal of a main unit, and the device is controlled by operation signals from both. Enable.

[0005]

FIG. 4 shows the basic structure of a transmission electron microscope as an example of an electron microscope. The electron beam 42 emitted from the electron gun 41 is accelerated by an acceleration tube 43 to which a voltage of a high-voltage power supply 56 is applied, and is adjusted to an appropriate brightness and spot diameter by a condenser lens 44. Irradiate 45. The electron beam 42 transmitted through the sample 45 contains the information of the sample 45 and is magnified by the first intermediate lens 48, the second intermediate lens 49, and the projection lens 50 and projected on the fluorescent plate 51, and is observed as an electron microscope image by the emission of the fluorescent material. it can. This image is usually observed from the position A in the figure through the observation window 52, can be focused by the objective lens 47, and magnification adjustment and focus adjustment can be executed by the main console 1 through the general control device 2. The sample 45 to be observed can be independently controlled and moved in the X and Y axis directions by a stage driver 57 connected to the integrated control device 2, and the control signal of the stage driver 57 is not shown but is transmitted to the console 1 of the main body. It can be operated with the arranged sample operation knob.

[0006] The photographing of the electron microscope image is performed by using a fluorescent screen 5.
1 is removed from the optical axis, and the electron beam 42 is applied to the film exposure chamber 5.
The film 54 set at the center of No. 3 can be irradiated and exposed. The setting operation of the film 54 is controlled by the film controller 55, and the instruction operation can be performed by the operation switch of the console 1 of the main body. Further, in order to observe an image with the TV camera 9, the fluorescent substance applied to the fluorescent plate 51 may be an electron beam.
The optical information emitted by the irradiation of No. 2 and transmitted through the fluorescent plate 51 is captured by the TV camera 9 as an image of the electron microscope and displayed on the video monitor 10. Of course, although not shown at this time, it goes without saying that the film 54 does not exist in the path of the electron beam 42. Lens control such as magnification adjustment and focusing in the electron optical system is controlled by a lens power supply 58 through the general control device 2 by operating knobs on the main console 1.

[0007] Observation sample 4 placed on sample stage 46
FIG. 5 shows an example of a schematic diagram relating to a mechanism for moving the reference numeral 5.
When a movement command is given from the console 1 via the integrated control device 2, each of the X-axis motor driver 57-1 and the Y-axis motor driver 57-2 of the stage driver 57 is connected to the X-axis drive motor 59-1. The sample stage 46 is driven by the Y-axis drive motor 59-2. The movement command from the console 1 is shown in FIG. 6 by a sample movement control knob, (X axis) sample movement knob 2
1 and the (Y-axis) sample movement knob 22 are shown. By operating the knob while observing the observation window 52 and the video monitor 10, a movement signal is generated, and the integrated control device 2
Can be sent to control. Usually, a rotary encoder is directly connected to the sample movement knob of the electron microscope, and the encoder signal φ
AφB can drive the sample stage 46 by the stage driver 57. The rotation direction can be known by determining which of the signals φAφB is a pair.
FIG. 7 shows a state of a signal generated from the rotary encoder when the sample moving knob of the console is operated. A rotary encoder signal φA generated when the sample moving knob 21 (or 22) is operated in the forward direction (clockwise operation).
The relationship between φB and φB in the opposite direction (counterclockwise operation)
The relationship of time is shown in (b). In the forward direction, the signal φA is φ
B, and in the reverse direction, the signal φB
, The operation change of the sample moving knob can be detected, and the sample feed can be executed by transmitting φA and φB to the stage driver 57.

Further, as shown in FIG. 6, the main console 1 has speed switches 23 and 24. This switch is a switch for instructing the moving speed of the sample stage 46 and sent to the stage driver 57 to be controlled. When the speed switch 24 is operated, the sample stage 46 can be set to move at a high speed, and the speed switch 24 can be set to move at a low speed. However, since the control of the sample moving speed and the like are not directly related to the present invention, a detailed description is omitted. .

FIG. 3 shows an example of the basic configuration of the main unit electron microscope and the remote control device. The main unit 3 is an entire column including various lenses and the like in FIG. 4. These are controlled by the general control unit 2 to execute various operations on the main console 1, and photograph the fluorescent screen 51 in FIG. And can be observed on the video monitor 10. At the time of remote operation, a signal generated by the operation knob of the remote operation console 6 is detected by the remote operation control device 7, converted into a signal corresponding to a communication line by the remote operation personal computer 8, and transmitted by the communication signal processing device 15 and the communication terminal device 14. The information is sent to the main computer 4 via the communication terminal device 12 and the communication signal processing device 11 via the communication line 13, and the main device 3 is operated under the control of the general control device 2. As a result, the remote control console 6
Is operated by the integrated controller 2 to operate the main unit 3, the image of the electron microscope is photographed by the TV camera 9, sent from the communication signal processor 11 to the remote controller via a route reverse to the control signal, and transmitted to the remote controller. 16 can be observed.

FIG. 1 is a control block diagram for implementing the present invention. Normally, to start the remote operation, it is necessary to set the device state and conditions of the main unit and the remote unit. However, since the present invention is not particularly required, the description is omitted. If both the main unit and the remote control device can be remotely controlled, various operations can be executed from the remote control console 6. However, at the time of remote control of the main unit, various problems occur that cannot be dealt with only by the remote device. For example, it is often the case that operation support on the main unit side is required for adjustment of an electron beam, selection of a visual field of a sample, and the like during execution of a remote operation. In such a case, it is needless to say that operation support is required on the main unit side. In order to simplify the explanation, the operation support on the main body side of the remote operation is limited only to the operation of the sample stage.
Since the control as a remote control system is possible by similar means), it is described.

In order to support the operation of the sample stage, it is necessary that both the console 1 and the remote console 6 can move the sample from both consoles. In order to enable this function, the operation pulse 25 from the sample moving knob 21 (22) of the main console 1 is directly transmitted to the stage driver 57 and the operation pulse from the remote console 6 is transmitted via the communication line 13 in FIG. The control signal 28 including a remote control pulse is transmitted to the stage driver 57 by the stage control device 5 which is a signal converter for receiving the remote control signal and transmitting the remote control signal to the stage driver 57 and the like. The control device normally used for the stage driver 57 has a means for directly inputting a driver signal and a communication port for inputting with an RS-232C or the like.

By using these two means, it is possible to control both operation pulses of the operation pulse 25 and the control signal 28 including the remote operation pulse. The setting of the sample moving speed shown in FIG. 6 is controlled by transmitting the operation signal 26 from the main console 1 to the general control device 2 and transmitting the operation signal 26 from the stage control device 5 to the stage driver 57 by the above-mentioned RS-232C or the like. I do. At the same time, after the moving speed signal from the remote console 6 is received by the general control device 2 via the communication line 13,
It is controlled by the stage driver 57 in the same manner as the operation signal 24 from the main console 1.

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2A shows a case where a signal synthesizing circuit 29 is provided for processing the operation pulse 25 shown in FIG. 1, and the integrated control device 2 and the stage control device are connected to the operation pulse 25 from the main console 1 via the communication line 13. By combining the remote operation pulse 27 converted from the communication signal in step 9 and supplying both pulses to the stage driver 57, the sample can be moved by the operation signal from both sides. FIG. 2B shows an example of a specific circuit of the signal synthesis circuit 29. Each of φAφB of the operation pulse 25 from the main console 1 and the remote control pulse 27 from the stage controller 9 is converted into an open collector type semiconductor device (I
C) is shown as an example of a WIRED-OR circuit using C).

The above-described circuit configuration is used for remote operation.
If both consoles are operated at the same time, there is a drawback that drive control is performed by both signals. However, the present invention does not provide a specific remote control system configuration or circuit means, but a need for means capable of effectively and effectively performing remote control, which is an essential problem of remote control support during remote control. Is to insist. The above disadvantages are techniques that can be easily avoided in system construction and circuit configuration. The technology claimed by the present invention is to provide a system that can provide prompt support when operation support is requested from a remote place, and to provide a system configuration that enables remote support. The present invention merely shows an example of enabling a remote operation system configuration capable of reliably executing operation support from the main device, and it goes without saying that there can be many specific means of the operation support system.

[0015]

According to the present invention, smooth remote operation support is possible when a state requiring operation support from the main unit occurs during remote operation.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of moving a sample as a configuration example of a control system that enables operation support during remote operation.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of moving a sample as a configuration example of a control system that enables operation support during remote operation.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a remote operation system.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a basic configuration example of an electron microscope.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a sample stage.

FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating an example of a sample moving operation knob and the like on a main console.

FIG. 7 is a timing chart of a sample feed rotary encoder signal.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Main console, 2 ... General control device, 3 ... Main device, 4
... Main body personal computer, 5 ... Stage control device, 6 ... Remote control console, 7 ... Remote control device, 8 ... Remote control personal computer, 9
... TV camera, 10 video monitor, 11 communication signal processing device, 12 communication terminal device, 13 communication line, 14 communication terminal device, 15 communication signal processing device, 16 remote video monitor, 21 sample movement Knob, 22: Sample moving knob Y, 23: Speed switch H, 24: Speed switch L, 2
5 operation pulse, 26 operation signal, 27 remote operation pulse, 28 control signal, 29 signal synthesis circuit, 31 sample moving knob, 32 sample moving knob, 33 speed switch H, 34 speed switch L 41, an electron gun, 42, an electron beam, 43, an acceleration tube, 44, a condenser lens, 4
5 sample, 46 sample stage, 47 objective lens, 4
Reference numeral 8: first intermediate lens, 49: second intermediate lens, 50: projection lens, 51: fluorescent plate, 52: observation window, 53: film exposure room, 54: film, 55: film controller,
56 ... High voltage power supply, 57 ... Stage driver, 57-1 ...
X-axis motor driver, 57-2 ... Y-axis motor driver,
58: Lens power supply, 59-1: X-axis drive motor, 59-
2. Y-axis drive motor.

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Kenichi Mechinin 882, Omo, Oaza, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki Prefecture Within the Hitachi Measuring Instruments Group (72) Inventor Hiroaki Mogaki 1040, Omo-shi, Oaza, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Inc Hitachi Science Systems Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Toshio Kouchi 882, Ichimo, Oita, Hitachinaka-shi, Ibaraki F-term within the Hitachi Measuring Instruments Group (reference) 5K048 AA08 BA21 DC04 EB02

Claims (1)

[Claims] An electronic microscope system which can be remotely controlled from a remote operation device installed physically away from the main unit electron microscope via a communication line such as a local area network. And the control console signal of the remote control unit are synthesized by the control unit and control system, enabling the main unit electron microscope to be operated simultaneously from both sides, making it easy to support remote operation using the console of the main unit during remote control of the main unit electron microscope An electron microscope and a remote control device, characterized in that: