JP2005214758A - Surface inspection device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To detect and discriminate an irregular shape with the size of about several tens μm or smaller having a gently-sloping contour on the rough surface, which cannot be detected or whose shape cannot be discriminated by a conventional optical surface inspection device. <P>SOLUTION: This surface inspection device for inspecting a metal is equipped unitedly with a microwave generator for generating a microwave having the wavelength of 10 μm-1 mm or a microwave having a part of the wavelength, the first optical system for guiding the microwave to the measuring object surface, a microwave detector for detecting a reflected wave from the measuring object surface, the second optical system for guiding the reflected wave to the microwave detector, a moving mechanism for the measuring object, and a signal processor for determining a signal intensity distribution by processing a detection signal at each measuring position and determining the surface shape of the metal from the determined signal intensity distribution. The microwave detector is characterized by being installed on a spatially different position from the rear focal position of the second optical system, and by being equipped unitedly with a mechanism for selecting and detecting spatially the microwave. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a metal surface inspection apparatus.

  For example, a surface inspection device for a metal surface such as a steel plate is a device that identifies various types of defects such as wrinkles and irregularities such as wrinkles and irregularities, and abnormal locations such as shape defects, and discriminates the types of abnormalities. is there. Conventionally, such inspection apparatuses include, for example, (1) a system using a CCD camera (for example, Patent Document 1) and (2) a system using a laser beam (Patent Document 2). (1) is a method in which visible light emitted from a white lamp is irradiated onto a metal surface, which is a surface to be measured, and the reflected light is photographed with a CCD camera. In particular, the irradiated light is incoherent. And In (2), a laser in the visible range is irradiated in a spot shape having a diameter of about several millimeters, and the reflected light is detected using a photodetector. In both cases, it is determined whether the observation region is normal or abnormal by irradiating the surface to be measured with visible light and detecting a difference in reflected light or a change in polarization accompanying the change in the target surface. In both cases, the type of abnormality that can be detected differs depending on the light irradiation and detection method, but it was difficult to detect and discriminate the uneven shape having a gentle undulation with a size of sub-mm or more and a height difference of several tens of μm or more. .

That is, (1) In the method using a CCD camera, an image similar to that obtained when a surface to be measured is photographed can be obtained. If the spatial resolution is increased by increasing the magnification of the camera lens, the size is 1 mm or less. Anomalies may also be detected. However, this method extracts information such as brightness, darkness, and overall shape based on the amount of reflected light, but it cannot accurately detect and distinguish irregularities on the target surface because it cannot obtain unevenness information on the target surface. There wasn't.
For example, in the metal manufacturing process, abnormalities pushed in by scratches or foreign objects may have a strong correlation between the type and the degree of harmfulness with the unevenness (depth) shape. It was impossible. Also, depending on the process, oil or dirt may adhere to the surface of the part that is normally normal. However, in the CCD camera system, an image very similar to the concave abnormal part can be obtained. I could not.
On the other hand, (2) the method using laser light condenses the laser light on the surface to be measured, and therefore the size of the anomaly that can be detected depends on this condensing spot diameter. In general, since the laser beam is irradiated from a relatively long distance, the diameter of the focused spot is on the order of millimeters, and minute abnormalities of 1 mm or less cannot be detected.

Furthermore, in any of the methods, when the target surface is a rough surface that irregularly reflects visible light, it is not possible to detect irregularities in which the contour of the cross-sectional shape forming the abnormal part has a gentle slope. For example, in a metal manufacturing process, this is an abnormality that can be manifested only after a special surface treatment such as grinding of a grindstone. Since this abnormality cannot be recognized visually unless an operation such as grinding of a grindstone is performed, in principle, it cannot be detected by the method (1). In the method (2), since the reflection direction of the laser beam changes due to the unevenness of the surface, there is a possibility that unevenness information can be obtained by capturing this change, but the reflected light is caused by the roughness of the surface. Scatters and remarkably reduces the change in reflected light due to irregularities in abnormal parts, and speckle noise also works in the direction of reducing S / N, etc. Even if the size is 1 mm or more, the irregularities are about 100 μm or less. It was not possible to detect any abnormalities.
Japanese Patent No. 3063523 JP-A-6-308051

  The present invention detects and identifies uneven shapes of about several tens of μm or less having a smooth outline in a rough surface, which cannot be detected or identified by a conventional optical surface inspection apparatus. Let it be an issue.

The above problems are solved by the following inventions (1) to (3).
(1) In a surface inspection apparatus for inspecting metal, a microwave generator that generates a microwave having a wavelength of 10 μm to 1 mm or a part of the wavelength, and the microwave is guided to a surface to be measured. A first optical system, a microwave detector for detecting a reflected wave from the surface to be measured, a second optical system for guiding the reflected wave to the microwave detector, a moving mechanism for the object to be measured, A surface inspection apparatus that combines a signal processor for processing a detection signal for each measurement position to determine a signal intensity distribution and determining a surface shape of the metal from the obtained signal intensity distribution, wherein the microwave detector is A surface inspection apparatus which is installed at a position spatially different from the back focal position of the second optical system and has a mechanism for spatially selecting and detecting microwaves.
(2) The microwave generator includes a light generator that generates pulsed light (visible pulsed light) in a visible wavelength region of 1 picosecond or less, and a mechanism (converter) that converts the visible pulsed light into microwaves. An optical system that guides the visible light to the converter, and generates a pulsed microwave of 1 picosecond or less, and the microwave detector generates an electric field generated by the pulsed microwave. The surface inspection apparatus according to item (1), comprising: a material whose refractive index changes according to the above; a visible pulse laser that irradiates the material; and a mechanism that detects a change in polarization of the pulse laser.
(3) The surface inspection apparatus according to (1) or (2), wherein the signal processor processes a detection signal for each frequency component.

In the surface inspection apparatus using the microwave according to item (1) for solving the problem, the present inventors have a smooth outline of about several tens of μm compared to the case where the object to be measured is a plane. The unevenness acts on the microwave like a concave or convex mirror, and has the effect of shifting the focusing position of the microwave from the original focal position, and the position where this effect is shifted from the focal position of the second optical system A microwave detector is installed on the surface, and the microwave intensity can be detected by selectively detecting, for example, only the central region of the collected nearby microwave, and the detected signal is uneven on the surface of the object to be measured. Was found to show the reversed polarity.
In addition, the surface inspection apparatus according to the item (2) that generates pulsed microwaves, irradiates the surface to be measured, and detects reflected microwaves, and has a role in which a visible laser beam for detection extracts a specific spatial region. In fact, there is a feature that a mechanism for spatially selecting and detecting microwaves becomes unnecessary.

  Furthermore, the surface inspection apparatus described in the item (3) that processes the detected pulse waveform by decomposing it into a plurality of frequency components uses the fact that the pulse microwave has a plurality of focused spot diameters on the surface to be measured. Since the measurement can be performed with a plurality of spatial resolutions according to the resolved frequency, the detection or identification performance is improved. Based on this knowledge, minute and gentle surface irregularities that could not be realized by conventional methods using visible light or methods that shield only the specular reflection component of the reflected light from the measurement target and detect only the scattering component We propose a detection and identification device.

  The present invention detects minute irregularities in a rough surface, which could not be detected by a conventional optical surface inspection apparatus, and accurately discriminates various forms of abnormalities according to the type and degree of harmfulness. can do.

The details of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
I) Basic Configuration Means for Solving the Problems The invention described in item (1) can be realized as shown in FIG. The microwave 2 radiated from the microwave generator 1 passes through the first optical system 3 composed of one or a plurality of polyethylene lenses or mirrors, and is condensed on the surface of the measurement target 8 to a beam diameter of about several millimeters. The With respect to the normal direction of the surface of the object 8 to be measured, the second optical system 4 is installed with a mirror reflection direction symmetric to the irradiation direction as an axis, and the reflected microwave 2 is guided onto the detection surface of the microwave detector 6. A spatial filter 5 capable of spatially selecting a microwave is installed in front of the detector so that a part of the microwave is detected. The signal processor 7 can receive position information from the moving mechanism 8 to be measured simultaneously with the signal from the microwave detector 6, and can detect a signal change corresponding to the position of the measured object.

  When starting the measurement, a flat mirror or a normal part is set on the moving mechanism 8 in advance and a reference signal is taken. After that, an inspection target is installed, and a detection signal is obtained by taking a ratio between the measurement signal and the reference signal. In addition to a mechanism that can be driven in the XY direction substantially parallel to the surface of the measurement target 9 necessary for inspection, the moving mechanism 7 has a Z direction and a rotation direction that are adjusted before measurement according to the thickness and inclination of the measurement target. It also has a moving mechanism. When the object to be measured is moved in the XY direction, the amount of light received by the detector changes depending on the relative position between the irradiation position of the incident microwave 2 and the abnormal part, and a signal pattern corresponding to the magnitude and type of the abnormality Is obtained.

  FIG. 2A is a block diagram in which portions to be measured 9, the second optical system 4, the spatial filter 5, and the microwave detector 6 in FIG. 1 are extracted in order to explain the principle of the present invention. These correspond to 101, 102, 103, and 104 in FIG. In this example, the optical system 102 is composed of a pair of lenses having the same focal length, and the reflected microwave from the object to be measured 101 becomes a substantially parallel wave by the first lens, and becomes the detector 104 by the second lens. Focused. The focal position at this time is indicated by (ii) in the figure. A detector 104 is installed on the side closer to the optical system 102 than this position, and the central portion of the microwave is extracted by a spatial filter 103 such as a pinhole. To do.

  FIG. 2B shows the microwave intensity distribution at the detector positions (i) and (ii) in FIG. When the object to be measured 101 is a flat surface, the microwave reflected by the surface of the object to be measured is condensed relatively gently at the position (ii), so that the intensity distribution 106 of the microwave is the position (i), It shows a similar shape regardless of (ii). On the other hand, when the object to be measured 101 has a concave (convex) shape, a significant difference occurs depending on the detection position. At the detection position (ii), even if the object to be measured has irregularities, there is no great difference in the intensity distribution of the microwave, and as a result, only a very small signal as shown in (ii) of FIG. On the other hand, at the detection position (i), the signal decreases or increases due to the unevenness of the measurement target. At this time, if the central portion where the signal change is significant is selectively detected by the spatial filter 103, the signal shows polarity as indicated by 109 and 110 in (i) of FIG. This is because the unevenness of the object to be measured acts as a reflection mirror having a focal length with different polarities, and the focal position and spread angle of the reflected microwave change according to the unevenness and curvature of the surface, and the detection is shifted. It is possible to grasp as a change in signal intensity only by combining a vessel and a spatial filter. In this example, the position of the detector is shifted to the side closer to the optical system, but the same effect can be obtained even if the position is shifted farther. Further, in this example, only the case where the position of the detector is shifted is described, but the same applies even if the focal position is shifted by adjusting the optical system.

II) In the case of using pulsed microwave The detection device using the pulse wave described in the item (2) can be realized by a method as shown in FIG. In order to generate and detect the microwave in the wavelength region of the present invention, it is conceivable to use an optical sampling technique using a pulse laser, and a time delay mechanism between the detection laser and the microwave is required. First, a visible or infrared pulse laser 201 is branched into two using a beam splitter 202, one for microwave generation and the other for microwave detection. For microwave generation, for example, a method of focusing on a small antenna on a semiconductor substrate, a method of irradiating a nonlinear optical element cut out in a specific crystal direction by expanding the laser diameter, a method called so-called light mixing, etc. There is. The pulsed microwave 206 generated from the microwave generating element 205 by any method is irradiated onto the measurement surface 217 through the optical system 207, and the reflected microwave is a second optical system including the lenses 208 and 211. 220 is guided to the electro-optical element 212. This element is installed shifted from the focal position of the optical system 220 forward or backward. The electro-optic element 212 converts the intensity of the microwave into a change in refractive index. When the laser light 219 passes within the time during which the microwave is irradiated, the polarization of the laser changes. At this time, since the change in the refractive index of only the region through which the laser beam passes is detected, it also has the function of a spatial filter as a result. When this is received by the detector 213 capable of detecting a change in polarization, a pulsed microwave sampled with a laser beam can be detected. For example, the detector 213 can be realized by combining a polarization beam splitter and two photodetectors. An optical modulator 218 is installed in advance in the optical path of the laser beam for generating microwaves, and the difference between the optical detection signals is detected by the lock-in amplifier 214 in synchronization with the signal from the optical modulator. By continuously changing the delay time of the detection laser beam by the laser beam delay mechanism 209, the pulse waveform of the microwave reflected from the measurement target surface can be detected. The detected signal is frequency-resolved in the signal processor 215, and the polarity and pattern thereof are calculated.

At this time, the condensing diameter of the microwave 206 irradiated to the measurement surface 217 is different for each frequency component constituting the pulse waveform, and the higher (lower) frequency becomes the smaller (larger) condensing diameter. This is equivalent to measurement with a plurality of spatial resolutions, and can be adjusted to increase sensitivity according to the size of the abnormal part by selecting the frequency band of the pulse. In particular, when the pulse width is 1 picosecond or less, since it has a wide frequency band of several terahertz or more, the multiplicity of the detection signal is increased, and phase information based on the time delay of the pulse wave can be detected with high accuracy. The detection and identification performance is improved.
By using the apparatus described above, it is possible to accurately determine the types of abnormalities that have been difficult to distinguish, such as the size of irregularities with a width of several tens of micrometers or less in the order of millimeters and the sharpness of the cross-sectional shape. .

  One embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 301 is a titanium sapphire laser excited by a YAG laser or the like, and generates a short pulse of about 100 femtoseconds using a pulse compression technique. This outputs visible light having a wavelength of 775 nm at a repetition frequency of 1 kHz. This is split into two beams for excitation and detection using a beam splitter 302 for visible light. The light modulator 303 is a chopper or an acousto-optic modulator and modulates a laser at a frequency of 500 Hz. At this time, the laser oscillation signal and the chopper are synchronized so that one of the two laser pulses is passed. The optical system 304 is a telescope that combines, for example, a concave lens having a focal length of −25 mm and a convex lens having a 75 mm focal length. In this case, the beam diameter can be expanded three times. In this example, the laser beam diameter is about 8 mm, and is expanded to about 24 mm after passing through the telescope. This is irradiated to a ZnTe crystal 305 having a second-order nonlinear coefficient. This crystal is cut in the <110> plane and has a thickness of 1 to 2 mm. When this is installed perpendicularly to the laser optical axis and rotated in the plane to adjust to an optimum angle, a short pulse microwave of 1 picosecond or less can be generated. The size of ZnTe was set to about 30 mm larger than the diameter of the laser. The distances between the ZnTe 305, the concave mirror 307, and the measurement target 308 were set to 120 mm, which is the same as the focal length of the concave mirror. The concave mirror 307 is shared by the younger brother 1 optical system that guides the microwave to the object to be measured and the younger brother 2 optical system that guides the microwave to the detector. This is for irradiating the measurement object 308 perpendicularly with a microwave, and is realized by installing a beam splitter 306 for the microwave between ZnTe and the concave mirror 307. The distance between the concave mirrors 307 and 319 is 240 mm, but the distance between the concave mirror 319 and the detection ZnTe 311 is 115 mm.

  On the other hand, the detection laser is adjusted so as to cause a delay of about −5 to 20 picoseconds with respect to the pulsed microwave when passing through a mirror pair or a corner cube mirror installed on the moving stage. This is synthesized so as to be coaxial with the microwave by the beam splitter 309 for visible light, and condensed on the ZnTe crystal 311. The beam splitter is called a peripheral beam splitter in which a thin film is metal-deposited and has a reflectivity of 10%. When ZnTe 311 is irradiated with microwaves, its internal refractive index changes, and when a laser pulse passes during this time, the polarization of the laser changes according to the microwave intensity. This polarization change is detected by the wave plate 312, the polarization beam splitter 313, and the two PIN photodiodes 314. The wavelength plate is adjusted in advance so that the ratio of the laser light incident on the photodiode is 1: 1 in a state where the microwave is not irradiated. The lock-in amplifier 315 detects the difference between the light reception signals of the two PIN photodiodes in synchronization with the modulation frequency component of the chopper 303. The detected pulse signal is Fourier transformed by the PC 316 and decomposed into frequency components. At the same time, the measurement target is moved from the PC 316 using the stage 317, and the signal intensity is detected in synchronization with the measurement target. FIG. 5 is a detection image obtained by this method, in which the signal intensity with a frequency of 1 terahertz is plotted for each position of the measurement target. Since the polarity of the signal is inverted according to the concave / convex of the target and the signal intensity changes according to the curvature, the shape of the target can be accurately identified.

It is a block diagram showing the basic composition of the device concerning the present invention. It is explanatory drawing of the principle of this invention. It is a block diagram which shows the structure of the test | inspection apparatus using a pulse microwave. It is a figure which shows the Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the measurement signal obtained in the Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

1: Microwave generator 2: Microwave 3: First optical system that guides the microwave to the surface to be measured 4: Second optical system that guides the reflected microwave to the detector 5: Spatial filter 6: Microwave detection Device 7: Signal processor 8: Measuring object moving mechanism 9: Object to be measured 101: Object to be measured 102: Optical system 103: Spatial filter 104: Microwave detector 105: Object to be measured Microwave shape 106 on the front surface of the detector when the object is convex: Microwave shape 107 on the front surface of the detector when the object to be measured is a flat surface 107: Microwave shape 108 on the front surface of the detector when the object to be measured is concave: Microwave selection area 109: detection signal 110 when measurement target is convex 110: detection signal 201 when measurement target is concave 201: visible or infrared pulse laser 202: beam Splitter 203: Mirror 204: Condensing or magnifying optical system 205: Microwave generator 206: Pulsed microwave 207: First optical system 208 for guiding the microwave to the measurement target, 211: Lens 209: Laser light delay mechanism 210: Dichroic mirror 212: Electro-optical element 213: Detector 214 for detecting a change in polarization 214: Lock-in amplifier 215: Signal processor 216: Measurement target moving mechanism 217: Measurement target 218: Optical modulator 219: Laser light 220: Second optical system 221 for guiding the reflected microwave to the detector: Synchronization mechanism 301: Titanium sapphire laser 302: Beam splitter 303: Chopper 304: Telescope 305: ZnTe crystal 306: Beam splitter 307 for microwave 319: Concave mirror 308: Pair to be measured 309: beam splitter 310 to laser beam: dichroic mirror 312: ZnTe crystal 313: a polarizing beam splitter 314: PIN photodiode 315: lock-in amplifier 316: PC
317: Moving stage 318: Synchronization signal transmitter

Claims (3)

In a surface inspection apparatus for inspecting metal, a microwave generator that generates a microwave having a wavelength of 10 μm to 1 mm or a part of the wavelength, and a first that guides the microwave to a measurement target surface An optical system, a microwave detector for detecting a reflected wave from the surface to be measured, a second optical system for guiding the reflected wave to the microwave detector, a moving mechanism for the object to be measured, and each measurement position A surface inspection apparatus having a signal processor that determines a surface shape of the metal from the obtained signal intensity distribution by processing the detection signal of A surface inspection apparatus characterized in that it is installed at a position spatially different from the rear focal position of the two optical systems and also has a mechanism for spatially selecting and detecting microwaves. The microwave generator includes a light generator that generates pulsed light (visible pulsed light) in a visible wavelength region of 1 picosecond or less, a mechanism (converter) that converts the visible pulsed light into microwaves, and the visible light. An optical system that guides light to the converter, and generates a pulsed microwave of 1 picosecond or less, and the microwave detector has a refractive index by an electric field formed by the pulsed microwave. The surface inspection apparatus according to claim 1, comprising: a material that changes, a visible pulse laser that irradiates the material, and a mechanism that detects a change in polarization of the pulse laser. The surface inspection apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the signal processor processes the detection signal by decomposing it into frequency components.

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