JP2003236692A - Method and device for controlling galvano-scanner - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To minimize the reduction of throughput by fixing no outputting order of command values to be imparted to a plurality of galvano-scanners and discriminating/operating for each movement. <P>SOLUTION: In moving a beam emitting position by using a plurality of mirrors 15, 17, the time required for positioning each of these mirrors 15, 17 is estimated, with the command values outputted in order of longer time required for positioning. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling a galvano scanner for moving the irradiation position of a beam by using a plurality of mirrors, and particularly to a method for irradiating a laser beam to a printed wiring board or the like. The present invention relates to a galvano scanner control method and apparatus suitable for use in a laser drill machine that performs drilling at appropriate positions and that can reduce processing time.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art FIG. 1 shows an example of the structure of the main part of a general laser drill machine. This configuration example is, for example, a pulsed laser beam 12 emitted from a laser oscillator (not shown).
On the surface (working surface) 10A of the object to be processed 10
A first galvano scanner 14 including a mirror (referred to as a Y mirror) 15 for scanning in a direction (a direction perpendicular to the paper surface in FIG. 1), and a laser beam 12 scanned in the Y direction by the first galvano scanner 14. , Similarly machined surface 10
A second galvano scanner 16 including a mirror (referred to as an X mirror) 17 for scanning in the X direction (direction parallel to the paper surface in FIG. 1) perpendicular to the scanning direction by the first galvano scanner 14 at A; The laser beams scanned in two directions by the first and second galvano scanners 14 and 16 are
F− for deflecting in a direction perpendicular to the processing surface 10A
The θ lens 18 is provided.

In this galvano scanner, the first and second galvano scanners 14 and 16 include mirrors 15 and 17, respectively.
By rotating the laser beam 12 onto the processed surface 1
It can be moved to any position within 0A. Mirror 1
When the laser beam deflected by 5, 17 passes through the f-θ lens 18, it is focused on the processed surface 10A. Therefore, by controlling the two galvano scanners 14 and 16, it becomes possible to perform laser processing on an arbitrary portion of the processing surface 10A.

Although FIG. 1 exemplifies the case of two galvano scanners, it may be three or more.

Since a high throughput is required for drilling a substrate or the like, a galvano scanner capable of performing high-speed processing by moving a laser beam, as compared with a method of moving the object 10 to be processed. Is often used.

[0006]

However, in general, in the galvano scanner, depending on the size and the movement amount of the mirror, the time required for the positioning until the laser beam can be irradiated after the vibration is subsided after the target angle is reached. However, the larger these are, the longer the positioning takes. In addition, the positioning characteristics may differ not only by the moving amount but also by the absolute moving position.

In order to reach a certain processing point, it is necessary to position the plurality of galvano scanners,
It does not make much sense to position only one of them earlier.

When outputting command values to a plurality of galvano scanners, there may be a time difference in output depending on the system configuration. The influence on the completion of positioning when such a time difference occurs will be described with reference to FIG. 2 by taking the case of two galvano scanners as an example. As shown in FIG. 2A, when the X mirror 17 is always driven with priority (referred to as X priority), the moving direction in the X direction is long under the condition (A) in which the moving time in the Y direction is long. Condition (a)
Compared with, the completion of positioning to the machining point is delayed by the time difference of the command value output. On the contrary, as shown in FIG.
When the Y mirror 15 is always driven with priority (referred to as Y priority), the movement time in the X direction becomes long (a)
Then, this phenomenon occurs. Even if this time difference is small, it cannot be ignored due to the demand for speeding up.

Conventionally, in order to solve such a problem, the larger mirror (X mirror 17 in the example of FIG. 1) is always driven first, or the smaller mirror (Y mirror 15 in the example of FIG. 1) is driven. Was always driven first, and the number of movements of the Y mirror on the processing path was increased. However, in all cases, the problem could be alleviated and not necessarily optimum. .

The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned conventional problems, and the throughput is lowered by making a determination / operation for each movement without fixing the order of output of command values given to a plurality of galvano scanners. The challenge is to minimize

[0011]

According to the present invention, in a galvano scanner control method for moving a beam irradiation position using a plurality of mirrors, the time required for positioning each mirror is predicted, and the time required for positioning is estimated. The above problem is solved by outputting command values in order from the above.

Further, the time required for the positioning is predicted on the basis of the relationship between the moving amount of each mirror and the moving time obtained by an experiment in advance.

Further, the time required for the positioning is obtained by multiplying the moving amount of each mirror by the coefficient obtained for each mirror.

Alternatively, the time required for the positioning is
The table created for each mirror is used for the calculation.

The present invention also provides a beam irradiation position control method characterized in that the irradiation position of the beam is controlled by using the control method of the galvano scanner.

According to the present invention, in a control device of a galvano scanner for moving a beam irradiation position by using a plurality of mirrors, a means for predicting a time required for positioning each mirror and a time required for the positioning. And a means for outputting the command value in order from the above.

The present invention also provides a beam irradiation position control device comprising the control device for the above-mentioned galvanic scanner.

[0018]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below, taking the case of two galvano scanners as an example.

As shown in FIG. 3, the galvano scanner control device according to the present invention and its peripheral devices set the command value 320 for each mirror according to the target angle 200 for each mirror input from the host controller 20. A digital calculator 32 for generating and a D / A for converting a command value 320 output from the digital calculator 32 into an analog command voltage 340.
The converter 34 and an analog command voltage 340 input from the D / A converter 34, triggered by the movement start command 202 from the host controller 20, and a mirror driven by a motor 40 provided for each mirror. An analog circuit 36 that outputs a current command 360 for each mirror from a mirror angle measurement signal 420 input from an angle sensor 42 provided for each mirror for detecting the rotation angle of
And a current command 360 input from the analog circuit 36.
A power amplifier 3 provided for each mirror for driving the motor 40 by generating a drive current 380 in accordance with
And 8 are included.

Here, the portion surrounded by the broken line is the galvano scanner control device 30.

In the figure, reference numeral 50 is a laser oscillator that oscillates a laser beam in response to a trigger signal 204 input from the host controller 20.

In this embodiment, the two mirrors 14,
The 16 target angles 200 are input to the digital calculator 32 from the host controller 20, and the command value 320 is generated. The D / A converter 34 converts this into an analog command voltage 340, and the movement start command 202 from the host controller 20 is used as a trigger to input it to the analog circuit 36.

On the other hand, the angle 420 of the mirrors 14 and 16 is
It is measured by the angle sensor 42 and input to the analog circuit 36.

In the analog circuit 36, feedback control is incorporated, and the command voltage 340 and the measurement angle signal 42 are included.
A current command 360 is output from 0.

A power amplifier 38 controls the current command 36.
A drive current 380 according to 0 is produced for each mirror, which drives the motor 40 and causes the mirrors 14, 16 to rotate.

The analog circuit 36 further generates a settling range signal 362 indicating that the motor angle is within a preset settling range for each mirror. Regarding the generation of the signal within the settling range, Japanese Patent Application No.
Since the details are described in 01-210834, description thereof will be omitted.

The in-settling range signal 362 is input to the digital calculator 32, and based on it, the completion of positioning is determined and the positioning completion signal 322 is output to the host controller 20.

Upon receiving this, the host controller 20 outputs a trigger signal 204 to the laser oscillator 50, and the laser is emitted.

The determination of the output order of the command value 320 to the two galvano scanners according to the present invention is performed by the digital calculator 3 described above.
Do in 2.

Hereinafter, in order to make the description easy to understand, details of the case where there are two galvano scanners will be specifically described.

In order to determine which galvano-scanner the command value is output first, the relationship between the moving amount and the moving time in each galvano-scanner is clarified beforehand by experiments or the like. Hereinafter, an example of a method of making a determination based on this relationship will be described.

First, as shown in FIG. 4, regardless of the movement amount,
In the first case where the ratio of the X and Y movement times of the galvano scanner is almost the same, one ratio of the X movement time and the Y movement time can be determined. These are designated as Tx and Ty and are stored in the digital calculator 32.

The output order of the command values in such a case is shown in FIG.
It is decided according to the procedure as shown in. That is, in operation, when the target value is first input, in step 100,
The amount of movement of X and Y is calculated. Next, the moving times of X and Y are multiplied by preset coefficients Tx and Ty, respectively, to calculate the relative moving time.

Next, in step 102, these are compared, and in step 104 or 106, the command value is first output to the galvano scanner having the longer moving time.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG.
In the second case where the ratios of the movement times of Y and Y are different, the movement times are approximated for each certain movement amount range. At this time, the movement amount range is narrowed when the movement time change is large and wide when the movement time change is small. The narrower the movement amount range, the more accurately the movement time can be obtained.

The calculated moving time is stored in the digital calculator 32 as a moving time table as shown in FIG.

The output order of the command values in such a case is shown in FIG.
It is decided according to the procedure as shown in.

That is, in the operation, when the target value is input, the movement amount of X and Y is calculated in step 100.

Next, at step 202, the X and Y movement times corresponding to the movement amount are read from a preset movement time table and approximated for each movement amount range.

Next, in step 204, these are compared, and in step 206 or 208, the command value is first output to the galvano scanner having the longer moving time.

By such a method, the order of outputting command values is not fixed, and the command value to the galvano scanner under the condition that positioning takes a long time is judged / operated for each movement so as to be output first. A) (a) and FIG. 2 (b) (a) avoid the positioning time decrease, and always use FIG. 2 (a) (a)
2B and FIG. 2A, a lean operation can be performed.

In the above embodiment, the number of galvano scanners is two for the sake of simplicity of description, but the number of galvano scanners is not limited to this, and the number of galvano scanners is three or more, for example, two places. To perform drilling at the same time,
It is obvious that the same can be applied to a laser drill machine in which two optical systems as shown in FIG. 1 are arranged in parallel and there are 2 × 2 = 4 galvano scanners. In this case, the command value can be output in order from the one having the longest moving time.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is
Although it was applied to the laser drill machine, the application of the present invention is not limited to this, and it is apparent that the invention can be similarly applied to other machines such as a marking machine as long as a galvano scanner is used. Also, the type of beam is not limited to the laser beam.

[0044]

According to the present invention, it is possible to output command values to a plurality of galvano scanners in an appropriate output order in consideration of the time required for movement, and to minimize the decrease in throughput. Is possible.

Therefore, when it is used in a laser drill machine, for example, it is possible to shorten the drilling time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing a main configuration of a laser drill machine to which the present invention is applied.

FIG. 2 is a time chart showing the influence of positioning completion in the order of outputting command values, for explaining the conventional problems.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram showing a configuration of an embodiment of a galvano scanner control device and its peripheral devices according to the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a relationship between a movement amount of a mirror and a movement time.

5 is a flowchart showing a procedure for determining a command value output order, which is suitable for use in the relationship of FIG.

FIG. 6 is a diagram showing another example of the relationship between the movement amount of the mirror and the movement time.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of a travel time table suitable for use in the example of FIG.

FIG. 8 is a flow chart showing a procedure for determining a command value output order.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Object to be processed 10A ... Processed surface 12 ... Laser beam 14, 16 ... Galvano scanner 15, 17 ... Mirror 18 ... f-theta lens 20 ... Host controller 30 ... Galvano Scanner Control Device 32 ... Digital calculator 34 ... D / A converter 36 ... Analog circuit 38 ... Power amplifier 40 ... Motor / mirror 42 ... Angle sensor 50 ... Laser oscillator 200 ... Mirror target angle 202 ... Movement start command 204 ... Trigger signal 320 ... Mirror command value 322 ... Positioning completion signal 340 ... Analog command voltage 360 ... Current command 362 ... Signal within settling range 380 ... Drive current 420 ... Mirror angle measurement signal

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A method of controlling a galvano scanner for moving a beam irradiation position using a plurality of mirrors, predicting a time required for positioning each mirror, and outputting a command value in order from one having a longer positioning time. A method for controlling a galvano scanner characterized by: 2. The control method for a galvano scanner according to claim 1, wherein the time required for the positioning is predicted based on the relationship between the moving amount of each mirror and the moving time which is previously obtained by an experiment. 3. The control method for a galvano scanner according to claim 2, wherein the time required for the positioning is obtained by multiplying the moving amount of each mirror by a coefficient obtained for each mirror. 4. The control method of the galvano scanner according to claim 2, wherein the time required for the positioning is obtained by using a table created for each mirror. 5. A beam irradiation position control method for controlling the irradiation position of a beam by using the method for controlling a galvano scanner according to claim 1. 6. A control device for a galvano scanner for moving a beam irradiation position using a plurality of mirrors, a means for predicting a time required for positioning each mirror, and a command value in order from one requiring a long time for positioning. A control device for the galvano scanner, which is provided with: 7. A beam irradiation position control device comprising the control device of the galvano scanner according to claim 6.