JP2008286871A - Optical microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To rapidly and accurately set an optimum retardation position in adjustment of retardation for an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function. <P>SOLUTION: A Nomarski prism 117 is used to constitute a differential interference observation optical system. An operation part 3 acquires designation for moving the Nomarski prism 117. A DIC motor 118 moves the Nomarski prism 117 in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the optical system of the optical microscope in accordance with acquirement of designation by the operation part 3, to adjust the retardation in differential interference observation. A control part 2 counts duration of the designation acquired by the operation part 3 and also controls the DIC motor 118 to change the moving amount of the Nomarski prism 117 in accordance with the duration of the designation. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an optical microscope technique, and more particularly to a differential interference observation technique.

  Microscopes are used not only in the fields of medicine and biology but also in the industrial field for purposes such as inspection of IC wafers and magnetic heads, quality control of metal structures, and research and development of new materials.

  In the manufacturing process of IC wafers and the like, manufacturing of such as scratches on the transparent film and variations in the thickness of the transparent film using differential interference observation method that converts the phase difference (retardation) into color contrast using light interference An inspection for the presence or absence of the above defects is performed.

In the differential interference observation method, a differential interference observation optical system is formed by adding optical elements such as a polarizer, a Nomarski prism, and an analyzer to a normal optical system provided in an optical microscope.
The polarizer is inserted into the optical path of the illumination light and converts the illumination light into linearly polarized light in a specific direction.

  The Nomarski prism is a differential interference prism that decomposes linearly polarized light passing through the polarizer into two linearly polarized light whose vibration directions are orthogonal to each other and again superimposes the two lights from the observation sample. In the case of epi-illumination, one Nomarski prism serves as both illumination light and an observation method, but in the case of transmitted illumination, a pair of Nomarski prisms are required.

  The analyzer causes the light beams that have passed through the Nomarski prism to interfere in the same vibration direction. Of the light that has passed through the analyzer and interfered, light having a certain wavelength is canceled by interference, while light having a certain wavelength is transmitted. For this reason, when the light passed through the analyzer and the visible light are superimposed, a color appears. This is called interference color.

  Regarding the technology of an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function, for example, Patent Document 1 includes a polarizer, an analyzer, and an actuator for electrically driving a Nomarski prism, and an observer operates an operation unit. A microscope capable of driving these optical elements is disclosed. In this microscope, when the observer operates the operation unit and selects the differential interference observation method, the control unit issues a drive instruction to the actuator to insert these optical elements into the optical path. After that, when the observer operates the operation unit to give an instruction to adjust the retardation (adjustment of the phase difference between two linearly polarized light decomposed in the Nomarski prism), the control unit issues a drive instruction to the actuator. The Nomarski prism is moved to adjust the retardation.

  Since the setting of the position of the Nomarski prism in adjusting the retardation is very severe, it is desired that the drive resolution of the actuator that electrically drives the Nomarski prism is very small. In general, the retardation position suitable for observation varies depending on the observation sample and the inspection process, and multiple retardation positions may be observed even with the same sample. Therefore, it is necessary to allow the Nomarski prism to move quickly over a wide range. There is also. Furthermore, since some defects to be detected can be detected only with a specific interference color, the setting of the interference color is very important.

Regarding the retardation adjustment technique in an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function, for example, Patent Document 2 includes a dial-type retardation position adjustment instruction section as an operation section, and changes the speed of turning this dial, or There has been disclosed a microscope in which the drive resolution of an actuator that electrically drives a Nomarski prism is changed by operating another operator of the operation unit.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-325281 Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-326777

  In the microscope disclosed in the above-mentioned prior art document 2, when the Nomarski prism is moved according to the dial operation, the observed interference color continuously changes. This determination of the change in interference color is a sensory determination by the observer. Therefore, in order to arrange the Nomarski prism at a position where the optimum interference color is obtained in the retardation adjustment, the observer is required to operate the dial while repeatedly reversing the rotation direction. Will take a long time.

  In addition, when an inexperienced inspector or inspection process creator is an observer, the sensory judgment of the interference color may not be appropriate, so the optimum setting of the interference color cannot be made and the defect is overlooked. It can happen.

  The microscope disclosed in the prior art document 2 is configured such that when the dial is rotated once, the Nomarski prism moves to a position where a representative one of the interference colors observed by differential interference observation is observed. Has been. However, when the observer is operating the dial while looking through the eyepiece lens, it is not easy to rotate the dial accurately 360 degrees. Thus, for example, differential interference observation of the first sample is performed at a plurality of predetermined retardation positions (positions of Nomarski prisms), and then a plurality of retardation positions that are the same as those at the time of observation of the first sample. Even if it is desired to perform differential interference observation of the second sample, it is difficult to reproduce the retardation position when observing the first sample when observing the second sample.

  In addition, when observing a plurality of retardation positions, if each of the retardation positions is far apart, an operation of rotating the dial many times is necessary, which makes the work complicated and requires time for observation. Also become.

  Furthermore, when the interference color suitable for observation is not found even if the Nomarski prism is moved to the end position of the preset movement range, or when observation of the next sample is started and observation of the next sample is started Will once return the Nomarski prism to the beginning of the preset movement range. However, in order to return the Nomarski prism to the starting end, an operation of rotating the dial many times is required, so that the work becomes complicated and observation takes time.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and a problem to be solved is to enable an optimum retardation position to be set quickly and accurately in the retardation adjustment of an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function. That is.

  An optical microscope according to one aspect of the present invention is an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function, and includes a differential interference prism used for constituting a differential interference observation optical system, and an instruction for moving the differential interference prism. An instruction acquisition means for acquiring the retardation, and adjusting the retardation in differential interference observation by moving the differential interference prism in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system of the optical microscope in response to acquisition of the instruction by the instruction acquisition means And a control unit for measuring the duration of the instruction acquired by the instruction acquisition unit and controlling the adjustment unit to change the amount of movement of the differential interference prism according to the duration of the instruction. And the above-described problems are solved by this feature.

  In the above-described optical microscope according to the present invention, the control unit has a determination unit that determines whether or not the duration of the instruction has passed a predetermined threshold time, and the determination result by the determination unit Accordingly, the adjustment means can be controlled to change the amount of movement of the differential interference prism.

  At this time, when the determination result indicates that the duration of the instruction has passed the threshold time, the control means coarsely moves the differential interference prism by a predetermined amount, and the duration of the instruction. When the determination result indicates that the threshold time has not elapsed, the adjustment means can be configured to finely move the differential interference prism with a movement amount smaller than the predetermined amount. .

  Further, in the above-described optical microscope according to the present invention, the name of the interference color observed when differential interference observation is performed, and the differential interference prism when the interference color is observed in differential interference observation by the optical microscope The table further includes a table storage unit in which a table indicating the relationship with the position in the direction is stored in advance, and the control of the adjusting unit by the control unit indicates the relationship with the name of the interference color in the table. The differential interference prism can be controlled to move to a position where it is located.

  At this time, the instruction acquired by the instruction acquisition unit includes an instruction of the moving direction of the differential interference prism, and the control of the adjustment unit by the control unit is performed immediately before the control. The differential interference prism is moved from the position of the interference prism to the nearest position in the direction according to the direction of the movement and the relation to the name of the interference color shown in the table. It is also possible to configure so that the control is performed.

  At this time, the control unit is configured to perform the control of the adjustment unit again when the instruction acquired by the instruction acquisition unit continues even after the control of the adjustment unit. You can also.

  At this time, each time the continuation of acquisition of the instruction by the instruction acquisition unit is detected, the adjustment unit is the narrowest among the intervals of the positions of the differential interference prisms shown in the table. The differential interference prism can also be configured to move with a movement amount shorter than that of the first embodiment.

  Further, the above-described optical microscope according to the present invention further includes a movement range information storage unit in which movement range information indicating the position of the end of the movement range set in advance in the direction of the differential interference prism is stored. When the instruction acquisition unit acquires an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the movement range, the adjustment unit is configured to move the differential range of the movement range indicated by the movement range information. The differential interference prism can be moved to the end position.

  At this time, the movement range information stored in the movement range information storage unit indicates the first position and the second position as information indicating the position of the end of the movement range. When the instruction acquisition unit acquires an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the moving range after moving the differential interference prism to the first position, the second position is moved to the second position. The differential interference prism can be moved.

  An optical microscope according to another aspect of the present invention is an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function, which is used to construct a differential interference observation optical system, and the differential interference prism. An instruction acquisition means for acquiring an instruction to move the optical interference, and in response to the acquisition of the instruction by the instruction acquisition means, the differential interference prism is moved in a direction perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system of the optical microscope, An adjustment means for adjusting retardation in the movement, and a moving range information storage unit storing moving range information indicating the position of the end of the moving range set in advance in the direction of the differential interference prism. When the instruction acquisition unit acquires an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the movement range, the adjustment unit is indicated by the movement range information. Moving the fine fraction interference prism position of the end of the movement range, it is characterized in, that solve the aforementioned problems by the features.

  In the optical microscope according to the present invention described above, the movement range information stored in the movement range information storage unit indicates a first position and a second position as information indicating the position of the end of the movement range. And when the instruction acquisition unit obtains an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the moving range after the differential interference prism is moved to the first position. The differential interference prism can be moved to the second position.

  According to the present invention, as described above, there is an effect that an optimum retardation position can be set quickly and accurately in the retardation adjustment of an optical microscope having a differential interference observation function.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

First, FIG. 1 will be described. FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of an optical microscope for carrying out the present invention. This microscope has a differential interference observation function.
In FIG. 1, a revolver 104 is attached to the microscope frame 1. The revolver 104 is arranged at a position facing the XY stage 103, and up to six objective lenses 105 can be installed. The revolver 104 includes a mounter 106 to which the objective lens 105 is attached, a revolver motor 107 that electrically rotates the mounter 106 to insert the objective lens 105 into the optical axis, and a revolver sensor group 108.

  The revolver sensor group 108 detects a hole number of a revolver connection sensor (not shown) that detects that the revolver 104 is connected and a mounter 106 in which the objective lens 105 that is currently inserted in the optical axis is installed. The illustrated hole number sensor and a movement completion sensor (not shown) for detecting that the objective lens 105 has been inserted into the optical axis are configured.

  A sample 102 is placed on the XY stage 103. The XY stage 103 is movable on the XY direction, and is attached on the Z stage 109 that can move in the Z direction that is the optical axis direction. The X direction, the Y direction, and the Z direction are directions orthogonal to each other.

The Z stage 109 is driven electrically by the Z stage motor 110 when the observer operates the operation unit 3 to give a drive instruction, and moves the sample 102 in the Z direction.
Above the revolver 104, a DIC (Differential Interference Contrast) cube 111 is installed. The DIC cube 111 is an optical component used to configure the differential interference observation optical system, and includes a half mirror 112, a polarizer 113 that is a polarizing plate, and an analyzer 114. Here, the polarizer 113 and the analyzer 114 are arranged so as to be in a crossed Nicols state.

  In addition to the DIC cube 111 for differential interference observation, the microscope shown in FIG. 1 includes a BF (Bright Field) cube for bright field observation (not shown) and a DF (Dark Field) for dark field observation. A cube is provided as an optical component. When the observer operates the operation unit 3 to instruct an observation method, the cube motor 115 is driven to insert a cube corresponding to the observation method into the optical axis.

  A DIC unit 116 is attached to the revolver 104. The DIC unit 116 includes a Nomarski prism 117, which is a differential interference prism used to configure a differential interference observation optical system, a DIC motor 118, and a DIC sensor (not shown in FIG. 1). The DIC motor 118 is an actuator that linearly moves a stepping motor shaft, and a Nomarski prism 117 is connected to the shaft. Therefore, by driving the DIC motor 118, the Nomarski prism 117 can be moved in the direction of the axis and perpendicular to the optical axis of the optical system of the microscope, and the Nomarski prism 117 is inserted with respect to the optical axis. It is possible to perform a moving operation for removing and a moving operation for changing the retardation position.

  A lamp house 120 having a light source 119 is attached to the microscope frame 1. The light from the light source 119 passes through the condenser lens 121 and the polarizer 113 to become linearly polarized light in a specific direction and is guided to the half mirror 112. The linearly polarized light reflected 90 degrees by the half mirror 112 passes through the Nomarski prism 117 and is decomposed into two linearly polarized lights that are orthogonal to each other in the vibration direction. After passing through the objective lens 105, the sample 102 is irradiated as illumination light. The

  When the light reflected by the sample 102 passes through the Nomarski prism 117 again, the light in the two vibration directions is superimposed. Thereafter, when this light passes through the half mirror 112 and is guided to the analyzer 114, the vibration directions are made uniform and interference occurs.

  When this interference light is subsequently guided to the trinocular tube 122, an image of the sample 102 is formed by the eyepiece lens 124 and the CCD camera 125 by the imaging lens 123 inside the trinocular tube 122. At this time, by observing the eyepiece lens 124 or displaying an image obtained by the CCD camera 125 on a monitor (not shown), the observer can observe the image of the sample 102 by the differential interference observation method. Become.

  The microscope frame 1 is connected to a control unit 2 that controls various electric units of the microscope. The control unit 2 is connected to an operation unit 3 that is operated by an observer to instruct the microscope. The configurations of the control unit 2 and the operation unit 3 will be described with reference to FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the control unit 2 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 201, a RAM 202 that temporarily stores various data such as calculation data, and a control program and various data that are stored in advance. ROM 203 and various I / F (interface) units 204a, 204b, 204c, 204d, and 204e that manage the exchange of various data between the various electric units and the operation unit 3 of the microscope, and more. Each of these components can be exchanged via the bus line 205 under the management of the CPU 201.

  The microscope in FIG. 1 includes the revolver 104, each cube, the DIC unit 116, and the Z stage 109 as an electric unit, so that the control unit 2 manages the exchange of various data with these units. It has an I / F unit 204a, a cube I / F unit 204b, a DIC unit I / F unit 204c, and a Z stage I / F unit 204d. In response to a drive instruction from the CPU 201, each of the motors provided in the electric unit is driven by a specified driving amount, and sensors (revolver sensor group 108, cube sensor 206, DIC) provided in these electric units are driven. Detection signals from the sensor 207 and the Z stage sensor 208) are received and passed to the CPU 201. Based on this detection signal, the CPU 201 manages the current state of each electric unit.

  The operation unit I / F unit 204e included in the control unit 2 manages information indicating the pressing state of various switches provided in the operation unit 3 and information on the operation unit 3 instructed by the CPU 201. Management of display contents in display.

  Next, FIG. 3 will be described. FIG. 3 shows an external configuration of the operation unit 3. As shown in FIG. 3, the operation unit 3 includes an objective lens driving button group 301, an observation method switching button group 302, a Z stage operation button group 303, a DIC operation button group 304, a display unit 305, It is configured with.

  The objective lens driving button group 301 includes an UP button 301a and a DOWN button 301b. The UP button 301a is a switch that acquires an instruction when pressed by an observer when giving an instruction to drive the mounter 106 in a direction in which the hole number increases. The DOWN button 301b is a switch that acquires the instruction when pressed by the observer when the mounter 106 is instructed to decrease the hole number.

  The observation method switching button group 302 includes a BF button 302a, a DF button 302b, and a DIC button 302c. These are acquired by being pressed by the observer when giving instructions to switch the observation method with the microscope of FIG. 1 to the bright field observation method, the dark field observation method, or the differential interference observation method, respectively. Switch.

  The Z stage operation button group 303 includes an UP button 303a and a DOWN button 303b. These are operated when the sample 102 is moved to the focus position of the objective lens 105. The UP button 303a is a switch that acquires an instruction when pressed by an observer when giving an instruction to drive the Z stage 109 in a direction approaching the objective lens 104. The DOWN button 303b is a switch that acquires the instruction when pressed by an observer when giving an instruction to drive the Z stage 109 in a direction away from the objective lens 105.

  The DIC operation button group 304 includes an ORG button 304a, an UP button 304b, and a DOWN button 304c. These are switches that acquire the instruction when pressed by an observer when giving an instruction to move the Nomarski prism 117.

  The display unit 305 displays the contents of the observer's instruction acquired by the various switches provided in the operation unit 3. The displayed contents are the currently selected observation method and the hole number of the mounter 106 where the objective lens 105 inserted in the optical axis is currently installed. The differential interference observation method is selected as the observation method. If there is, the retardation position and the interference color observed when the Nomarski prism 117 is arranged at that position are displayed on the display unit 305.

  In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, “1 DIC 550 DARKBULE” is displayed on the display unit 305. This indicates that the instruction of the hole number 1 of the mounter 106, the observation by the differential interference observation method, the retardation position 550, and the interference color is dark blue is acquired.

Next, FIG. 4A will be described. FIG. 4A is a memory map of the RAM 202.
A numerical value indicating the current position of the axis of the DIC motor 118, that is, the current position of the Nomarski prism 117 is stored in the address cur_pos of the RAM 202. This numerical value is updated each time a change in position is detected by the DIC sensor 207.

  In addition, a numerical value indicating the movement destination position of the Nomarski prism 117 that is instructed based on the pressing operation of the DIC operation button group 304 is stored in the target_pos address of the RAM 202. Addresses i and j are used as a step counter i and an interference color counter j, which are necessary for calculation when the DIC motor 118 is driven, respectively. Further, the flg address has a flag flg value (either “0” or “1”) used for a toggle operation performed in response to a pressing operation on the ORG button 304a in the DIC operation button group 304. Stored.

Next, FIG. 4B will be described. FIG. 4B is a memory map of the ROM 203.
Text information representing the names of typical interference colors observed when differential interference observation is performed is stored in advance in each storage area of the ROM 203 at addresses ICC [1] to ICC [10]. Further, in each storage area of the ROM 203 from the IC [1] address to the IC [10] address, the position of the axis of the DIC motor 118 when the interference color is observed by the microscope of FIG. 1, that is, the position of the Nomarski prism 117. Is stored in advance.

  In the data example of FIG. 4B, for example, the interference color “DARKBULE” (dark blue) is stored in the ICC [9] address. Here, “550” is stored in the IC [9] address. Accordingly, it can be seen that when the Nomarski prism 117 is arranged at the position “550” in the microscope of FIG. 1, dark blue is observed as the interference color. That is, the ROM 203 has a table indicating the relationship between the name of the interference color observed when differential interference observation is performed and the position of the Nomarski prism 117 when the interference color is observed in the differential interference observation with the microscope of FIG. Is stored in advance.

  In this embodiment, the numerical information indicating the position of the Nomarski prism 117 is stored in the storage areas of the ROM 203 from the IC [1] address to the IC [10] address in ascending order of the numerical values. The names of the interference colors stored in the storage areas from the ICC [1] address to the ICC [10] address of the ROM 203 are stored in the above-described order in the storage areas from the IC [1] address to the IC [10] address. Stored so as to correspond to each numerical information.

The operation of the microscope of FIG. 1 configured as described above will be described below.
First, when the DIC button 302c of the observation method switching button group 302 is pressed by the observer, the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e is updated. The CPU 201 recognizes that the DIC button 302c has been pressed by updating this button press information. Then, the CPU 201 starts a DIC observation switching sequence.

  First, the CPU 201 acquires information on the current position of the Nomarski prism 117 detected by the DIC sensor 207 from the DIC unit I / F unit 204c. Here, when it is determined that the Nomarski prism 117 is located at the OUT position (position deviated from the optical axis), the CPU 201 outputs a drive instruction for the DIC motor 118 to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c. Then, the Nomarski prism 117 is driven to the IN position (position on the optical axis).

  Thereafter, the CPU 201 obtains information on the current position of the Nomarski prism 117 again from the DIC unit I / F unit 204c. Here, if it is confirmed that the Nomarski prism 117 is located at the IN position, the CPU 201 next stores information indicating the type of cube currently inserted in the optical axis, which is detected by the cube sensor 206. Obtained from the cube I / F unit 204b. Here, when it is determined that the cube inserted into the optical axis is not the DIC cube 111, a drive instruction for the cube motor 115 is output to the cube I / F unit 204b, and the DIC cube 111 is inserted into the optical axis. Let

  Thereafter, information on the current position of the Nomarski prism 117 and information indicating the type of cube currently inserted in the optical axis are obtained from the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and the cube I / F unit 204b, respectively. Here, when it is confirmed that the Nomarski prism 117 and the DIC cube 111 are respectively inserted in the optical axis, a display instruction is given to the operation unit l / F unit 204e, and the characters “DIC” are displayed on the display unit 305. Display.

  Thereafter, the pressing operation on the DIC operation button group 304 of the operation unit 3 becomes valid. Here, when the UP button 304b is pressed by the observer, the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e is updated. The CPU 201 recognizes that the UP button 304b has been pressed by updating this button pressing information. Then, the CPU 201 starts a retardation adjustment sequence.

  In the retardation adjustment sequence, the retardation is adjusted by driving the DIC motor 118 and moving the Nomarski prism 117 in response to the movement instruction of the Nomarski prism 117 performed by the observer pressing the UP button 304b. Process.

  Processing contents performed by the CPU 201 by the retardation adjustment sequence in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The CPU 201 can execute this sequence by reading and executing a predetermined program stored in the ROM 203.

  When the retardation drive sequence according to the present embodiment is started, first, in S101, information on the current position of the Nomarski prism 117 is acquired from the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and stored in the address cur_pos in the RAM 202. .

  In subsequent S102, the value of the step counter i prepared at the address i in the RAM 202 is set to "0" in order to measure the duration of the pressing operation of the UP button 304b, that is, the duration of the movement instruction of the Nomarski prism 117. Is initialized.

  In subsequent S103, processing for determining whether or not the current value of the step counter i described above is smaller than “10” is performed. Here, when the current value of the step counter i is smaller than “10” (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S104, and the current value of the step counter i is “10” or more. If (when the determination result is No), the process proceeds to S110.

  By the determination process in S103, it is determined whether or not the duration of the movement instruction of the Nomarski prism 117 has exceeded a predetermined threshold time. Here, until the continuation time reaches a predetermined threshold time, retardation adjustment is performed in the fine movement mode in which the Nomarski prism 117 is moved little by little. On the other hand, after the continuation time reaches a predetermined threshold time, retardation adjustment is performed in the interference color movement mode in which the Nomarski prism 117 is moved largely so that the observed interference color becomes another typical interference color. Is called.

  In S <b> 104, a process of storing “1” to the numerical value indicating the current position of the axis of the DIC motor 118 stored in the cur_pos address of the RAM 202 is stored in the target_pos address of the RAM 202.

  In S105, the current numerical value stored in the above-described target_pos address is read, and the numerical value is transferred to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and set.

In S106, the drive instruction of the DIC motor 118 is given to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c, and the Nomarski prism 117 is moved by the movement amount corresponding to the numerical value set in the DIC unit I / F unit 204c by the process of the previous step. Processing and processing for giving an instruction to display the numerical value as the retardation position on the display unit 305 to the operation unit I / F unit 204e are performed.

In S107, the above-described process of incrementing the current value of the step counter i (advancing the current value of the step counter i by “1”) is performed.
In S108, after the DIC motor 118 is driven to move the Nomarski prism 117, whether the observed interference color is appropriate and whether the order of the change in the observed interference color is appropriate are determined by the user. In order to secure the time for the determination, a process of temporarily stopping (waiting) the progress of the retardation adjustment sequence by the CPU 201 for a predetermined time (for example, about 100 milliseconds) is performed.

  In S109, processing for obtaining the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e and determining whether or not the pressing operation of the UP button 304b has been completed (whether or not the button has been released) is performed. Here, when it is determined that the pressing operation of the UP button 304b has ended (when the determination result is Yes), the retardation adjustment sequence is ended. On the other hand, when it is determined that the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is still continued (when the determination result is No), the process returns to S103 and the above-described process is repeated.

  If the observed interference color becomes a desired color, or if the order of change of the interference color is reversed, the observer presses the UP button 304b. When finished, release the button. On the other hand, if the desired interference color is not obtained, but the change order of the interference color is as expected, the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is continued. The determination process of S109 is a process for detecting whether or not these changes have occurred in the pressing operation performed on the UP button 304b by the observer.

  Here, if the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is continued, the processes from S103 to S109 are repeated. Then, the retardation adjustment in the fine movement mode described above is performed, and the Nomarski prism 117 is moved from the position immediately before execution of the processing to a position where the numerical value indicating the position is increased by “1”. However, after that, the value of the step counter i gradually increases due to the action of the process of S107, so the result of the determination process of S103 eventually becomes No. Then, the CPU 201 advances the process to S110.

In S110, a process of initializing the value of the interference color counter j prepared at address j of the RAM 202 to “1” is performed.
In S111, the current value of the above-described interference color counter j (this value is set as a variable j) is acquired, and further, the numerical value stored in the IC [j] address of the ROM 203 is acquired and the target_pos address of the RAM 202 is acquired. The storing process is performed.

  In S112, the numerical value currently stored in the above-mentioned cur_pos address of the RAM 202 is compared with the numerical value currently stored in the above-mentioned target_pos address, and whether the numerical value in the cur_pos address is smaller than the numerical value in the target_pos address or not. Processing for determining whether or not. Here, when the numerical value of the cur_pos address is smaller than the numerical value of the target_pos address (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S105, and the processes after S105 are performed. On the other hand, when the numerical value of the cur_pos address is equal to or larger than the numerical value of the target_pos address (when the determination result is No), the process proceeds to S113.

  In S113, the above-described process of incrementing the current value of the interference color counter j (the current value of the interference color counter j is advanced by “1”) is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to S111 and the process described above is performed. Repeated.

  After the result of the determination process in S103 is No, the above-described processes from S110 to S113 and the processes from S105 to S109 are repeated. Then, the retardation adjustment in the interference color movement mode described above is performed, and is the closest position in the direction in which the numerical value indicating the position increases from the position immediately before the execution of the process, and the relationship with the interference color in the ROM 203. The Nomarski prism 117 moves to the nearest position indicated by. Note that the processing from S111 to S113 is processing for specifying this latest position.

  Further, in the retardation adjustment in the interference color movement mode, even after the above-described movement of the Nomarski prism 117 is once performed, the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is continued every time the process of S106 is repeated. If it is determined, the same moving operation is repeated each time it is determined in the process of S109.

  The sequence described above is the retardation adjustment sequence according to the present embodiment. This sequence is performed in response to a pressing operation on the UP button 304b in the DIC operation button group 304.

  On the other hand, when the DOWN button 304c is pressed by the observer when the pressing operation on the DIC operation button group 304 of the operation unit 3 is enabled, the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e is updated. . The CPU 201 recognizes that the DOWN button 304c is pressed by updating the button pressing information. Then, the CPU 201 starts a retardation adjustment sequence similar to that in FIG. However, the sequence executed in this case is changed from that shown in FIG.

  That is, in S104 of FIG. 5, instead of adding “1” to the numerical value stored in the cur_pos address of the RAM 202, “1” is subtracted, and in S110, the value of the interference color counter j is set to “1”. Instead of initializing, it is initialized to “10”, and in S112, instead of determining whether the numerical value of the cur_pos address is smaller than the numerical value of the target_pos address, it is determined whether it is large, and In S113, the value of the interference color counter j is decremented instead of being incremented (the value of the interference color counter j is returned by “1”).

  When the retardation adjustment sequence changed as described above is executed by the CPU 201, in the repetition of the processing from S103 to S109, the above-described numerical value indicating the position is decreased by “1” from the position immediately before the execution of the processing. Retardation adjustment is performed in the fine movement mode in which the Nomarski prism 117 moves to the position. Further, in the repetition of the processing from S110 to S113 and the processing from S105 to S109, it is the nearest position in the direction in which the numerical value indicating the position decreases from the position immediately before the execution of the processing, and the interference color in the ROM 203 Retardation adjustment is performed in the interference color movement mode in which the Nomarski prism 117 moves to the nearest position where the relationship is shown.

  Therefore, in the changed retardation adjustment sequence, the Nomarski prism 117 is moved in the opposite direction to the retardation adjustment sequence before the change in the retardation adjustment in both the fine movement mode and the interference color movement mode. That is, it can be said that the DIC operation button group 304 acquires an instruction of the moving direction of the Nomarski prism 117 depending on which of the UP button 304b and the DOWN button 304c is pressed. Further, it can be said that the CPU 201 controls the DIC motor 118 to move the Nomarski prism 117 in the direction according to the instruction depending on which of the acquisition results of the instruction is.

  In the fine adjustment mode in the above-described retardation adjustment sequence, the above-described numerical value indicating the position is increased by “1” from the position immediately before the execution of the process by repeating the processes from S103 to S109 (the operation of pressing the UP button 304b) The Nomarski prism 117 is moved to the position where it has decreased or decreased (by pressing the DOWN button 304c). Here, in the process of S104, the value to be added (in the case of pressing the UP button 304b) or subtracted (in the case of pressing the DOWN button 304c) to the numerical value stored in the cur_pos address of the RAM 202 is set to “1”. Alternatively, this value can be changed to a value smaller than the smallest of the numerical intervals stored in the ROM 203 from the IC [1] address to the IC [10] address. By changing in this way, the Nomarski prism 117 is moved by a movement amount shorter than the narrowest of the intervals of the positions of the Nomarski prism 117 when the representative interference color shown in the ROM 203 is observed. To be able to. That is, by this change, the movement amount of the Nomarski prism 117 in the fine movement mode can be moved more coarsely than before the change.

  Further, when the ORG button 304a is pressed by the observer when the pressing operation on the DIC operation button group 304 of the operation unit 3 becomes valid, the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e is updated. . The CPU 201 recognizes that the ORG button 304a has been pressed by updating this button press information. Then, the CPU 201 starts the origin movement sequence.

  In the origin movement sequence, the DIC motor 118 is driven in response to the movement instruction of the Nomarski prism 117 performed by the observer pressing the ORG button 304a, and the Nomarski prism 117 is stored in the ROM 203 in the moving direction in advance. It is a process for moving to the position of the end of the moving range. In the present embodiment, the information indicating the position of the end of the movement range is numerical information stored in both the storage areas of the IC [1] address and the IC [10] address of the ROM 203, respectively.

  The processing content performed by the CPU 201 by the origin movement sequence will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The CPU 201 can execute this sequence by reading and executing a predetermined program stored in the ROM 203.

  First, in S151, a process of determining whether or not the current value of the flag flg currently stored at the flg address of the RAM 202 is “1” is performed. Here, when it is determined that the current value of the flag flg is “1” (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S152, and it is determined that the current value of the flag flg is “0”. If (when the determination result is No), the process proceeds to S154.

  In S152, the process of setting the value of the interference color counter j prepared at the j-th address of the RAM 202 to “1” is performed. In the subsequent S153, the process of setting the value of the flag flg to “0” is performed. Thereafter, the process proceeds to S156.

On the other hand, in S154, the process of setting the value of the interference color counter j described above to “10” is performed, and in the subsequent S155, the process of setting the value of the flag flg to “1” is performed.
In S156, the current value of the interference color counter j (this value is set as a variable j) is acquired, and the numerical value stored in the IC [j] address of the ROM 203 is acquired and stored in the target_pos address of the RAM 202. Processing is performed.

  In S157, the current numerical value stored in the above-described target_pos address is read, and the numerical value is transferred to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and set.

In S158, a drive instruction for the DIC motor 118 is given to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c, and the Nomarski prism 117 is moved by a movement amount corresponding to the numerical value set in the DIC unit I / F unit 204c by the processing in the previous step. Processing and processing for giving an instruction to display the numerical value as a retardation position on the display unit 305 to the operation unit I / F unit 204e are performed, and thereafter, the origin movement sequence is terminated.

  The sequence up to this point is the origin movement sequence. By executing this sequence, the CPU 201 places the Nomarski prism 117 at the end of the movement range indicated in advance by the numerical value stored in either the IC [1] address or the IC [10] address of the ROM 203. The drive control to move is performed on the DIC motor 118.

  Here, when the Nomarski prism 117 is moved to the numerical position stored in the IC [1] address by the most recent origin movement sequence, the next ORG button 304a is pressed. In the origin movement sequence performed in response to the acquisition, a process of moving the Nomarski prism 117 to the position of the numerical value stored in the IC [10] address is performed. On the other hand, when the Nomarski prism 117 is moved to the position of the numerical value stored in the IC [10] address by the most recently performed origin movement sequence, in response to the acquisition of the pressing operation of the next ORG button 304a. In the origin movement sequence performed in this way, a process for moving the Nomarski prism 117 to the position of the numerical value stored in the IC [1] address is performed.

  In this way, in the origin movement sequence, the position of the end of the predetermined movement range that is the movement destination of the Nomarski prism 117 is switched by a so-called toggle every time a pressing operation on the ORG button 304a is detected.

  In this embodiment, instead of the ORG button 304a, a pair of button switches respectively corresponding to both ends of the movement range of the Nomarski prism 117 are provided, and the switch that is pressed down at both ends of the movement range is provided. It is also possible to configure the CPU 201 to control the movement of the Nomarski prism 117 to the corresponding direction.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the optimum retardation position can be set quickly and accurately in the retardation adjustment when differential interference observation is performed with the microscope shown in FIG.

  The optical microscope according to the present embodiment uses the one having the schematic configuration shown in FIG. Also, the control unit 2 and the operation unit 3 have the configuration shown in FIG. 2, and the external configuration of the operation unit 3 shown in FIG. 3 is also used. Further, the memory maps of the RAM 202 and ROM 203 are the same as those shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, respectively.

  The operation of the microscope of FIG. 1 configured as described above will be described. It is confirmed that the Nomarski prism 117 and the DIC cube 111 are inserted into the optical axis of the microscope, and the characters “DIC” are displayed on the display unit 305. The operation until the CPU 201 recognizes that the UP button 304b in the DIC operation button group 304 of the operation unit 3 has been pressed is the same as that in the first embodiment. However, the retardation adjustment sequence that the CPU 201 starts to execute in response to the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is different from that in the first embodiment.

  Processing contents performed by the CPU 201 by the retardation adjustment sequence in this embodiment will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. The CPU 201 can execute this sequence by reading and executing a predetermined program stored in the ROM 203.

  When the retardation drive sequence according to the present embodiment is started, first, in S201, processing for acquiring information on the current position of the Nomarski prism 117 from the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and storing it in the address cur_pos in the RAM 202 is performed. .

  In subsequent S202, the progress of the retardation adjustment sequence by the CPU 201 is paused for a predetermined time to measure the duration of the pressing operation of the UP button 304b, that is, the duration of the movement instruction of the Nomarski prism 117. (Wait) processing is performed.

  In S203, processing for obtaining the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e and determining whether or not the pressing operation of the UP button 304b has been completed (whether or not the button has been released) is performed. Here, when it is determined that the pressing operation of the UP button 304b has been completed (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S204. On the other hand, when it is determined that the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is still continued (when the determination result is No), the process proceeds to S208.

  In S <b> 204, a process of storing a numerical value indicating the current position of the axis of the DIC motor 118 stored at the cur_pos address of the RAM 202 at the target_pos address of the RAM 202 is performed.

  In S205, a process is performed in which the value obtained by adding “1” to the current numerical value stored in the above-described target_pos address is stored again in the target_pos address.

  In S206, the current numerical value stored in the above-described target_pos address is read, and the numerical value is transferred to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and set.

In S207, a drive instruction for the DIC motor 118 is given to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c, and the Nomarski prism 117 is moved by the movement amount corresponding to the numerical value set in the DIC unit I / F unit 204c by the processing in the previous step. Processing and processing for giving an instruction to display the numerical value as the retardation position on the display unit 305 to the operation unit I / F unit 204e are performed, and thereafter, the retardation adjustment sequence is terminated.

  By performing the above processing from S204 to S207, the retardation adjustment in the fine movement mode described above is performed, and the position indicating the position is increased by “1” from the position immediately before the execution of the processing. The Nomarski prism 117 moves. However, in this embodiment, even if the duration of one pressing operation on the UP button 304b changes, the amount of movement does not change as long as the fine movement mode is selected according to the duration. In this embodiment, such a pressing operation on the UP button 304b for selecting the fine movement mode is referred to as “single pressing”.

  However, if the duration of the pressing operation on the UP button 304b exceeds the predetermined time and the result of the determination process in S203 is No, the CPU 201 advances the process to S208 for adjusting the retardation in the interference color movement mode. Is performed. In this embodiment, such a pressing operation on the UP button 304b for selecting the interference color movement mode is referred to as “long pressing” as a response to the “single pressing” described above.

In S208, a process of initializing the value of the interference color counter j prepared at address j of the RAM 202 to “1” is performed.
In S209, the current value of the interference color counter j described above (this value is set as a variable j) is acquired, and further, the numerical value stored in the IC [j] address of the ROM 203 is acquired and the target_pos address of the RAM 202 is acquired. The storing process is performed.

  In S210, the numerical value currently stored in the above-described cur_pos address of the RAM 202 is compared with the numerical value currently stored in the above-described target_pos address, and whether the numerical value in the cur_pos address is smaller than the numerical value in the target_pos address or not. Processing for determining whether or not. Here, when the numerical value of the cur_pos address is smaller than the numerical value of the target_pos address (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S212, and when the numerical value of the cur_pos address is equal to or larger than the numerical value of the target_pos address (the determination result is No). ), The process proceeds to S211.

  In S211, the above-described process of incrementing the current value of the interference color counter j (the current value of the interference color counter j is advanced by “1”) is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to S209 and the above-described process is performed. Repeated.

  In S212, the current numerical value stored in the above-described target_pos address is read, and the numerical value is transferred to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c and set.

In S213, an instruction to drive the DIC motor 118 is given to the DIC unit I / F unit 204c, and the Nomarski prism 117 is moved by the movement amount corresponding to the numerical value set in the DIC unit I / F unit 204c by the processing in the previous step. Processing and processing for giving an instruction to display the numerical value as the retardation position on the display unit 305 to the operation unit I / F unit 204e are performed.

  In S214, after the DIC motor 118 is driven to move the Nomarski prism 117, whether the observed interference color is appropriate and whether the order of change in the observed interference color is appropriate are determined by the user. In order to secure the time for the determination, a process of temporarily stopping (waiting) the progress of the retardation adjustment sequence by the CPU 201 for a predetermined time (for example, about 100 milliseconds) is performed.

  In S215, processing for obtaining the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e and determining whether or not the pressing operation of the UP button 304b has been completed (whether or not the button has been released) is performed. Here, when it is determined that the pressing operation of the UP button 304b has ended (when the determination result is Yes), the retardation adjustment sequence is ended. On the other hand, when it is determined that the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is still continued (when the determination result is No), the process returns to S216 and the above-described process is repeated.

  In S215, the above-described process of incrementing the current value of the interference color counter j (the current value of the interference color counter j is advanced by “1”) is performed. Thereafter, the process returns to S209 and the above-described process is performed. Repeated.

  By performing the processing from S208 to S216 described above, the retardation adjustment in the interference color movement mode described above is performed, and from the position immediately before the execution of the processing to the latest in the direction in which the numerical value indicating the position increases. The Nomarski prism 117 is moved to the nearest position which is the position and the relationship with the interference color is indicated in the ROM 203. Further, in the retardation adjustment in the interference color movement mode, even after the movement of the Nomarski prism 117 described above is once performed, every time the execution of the process of S213 is repeated, that is, the UP button 304b is pressed. The same movement operation is repeatedly performed every time it is determined in the process of S215 that the process continues.

  The sequence described above is the retardation adjustment sequence according to the present embodiment. This sequence is performed in response to a pressing operation on the UP button 304b in the DIC operation button group 304.

  On the other hand, when the DOWN button 304c is pressed by the observer when the pressing operation on the DIC operation button group 304 of the operation unit 3 is enabled, the button pressing information of the operation unit I / F unit 204e is updated. . The CPU 201 recognizes that the DOWN button 304c is pressed by updating the button pressing information. Then, the CPU 201 starts a retardation adjustment sequence similar to that in FIG. However, the sequence executed in this case is changed from that shown in FIG.

  That is, in S205 of FIG. 7, instead of adding “1” to the numerical value stored in the address_pos address of the RAM 202, “1” is subtracted, and in S208, the value of the interference color counter j is set to “1”. Instead of initializing, it is initialized to “10”, and in S210, it is determined whether or not the numerical value of the cur_pos address is larger than the numerical value of the target_pos address, and whether or not it is large, and In S211 and S216, instead of incrementing the value of the interference color counter j, the value is decremented (the value of the interference color counter j is returned by “1”).

  When the retardation adjustment sequence changed as described above is executed by the CPU 201, in the processes from S204 to S207, the above-described numerical value indicating the position is decreased by “1” from the position immediately before the execution of the process. Retardation adjustment is performed in the fine movement mode in which the Nomarski prism 117 moves. Further, in the processing from S208 to S216, the ROM 203 is the nearest position in the direction in which the numerical value indicating the position decreases from the position immediately before the execution of the processing, and the relationship with the interference color is indicated in the ROM 203. Retardation adjustment is performed in the interference color movement mode in which the Nomarski prism 117 moves to the nearest position.

  Therefore, in the changed retardation adjustment sequence, the Nomarski prism 117 is moved in the opposite direction to the retardation adjustment sequence before the change in the retardation adjustment in both the fine movement mode and the interference color movement mode. That is, it can be said that the DIC operation button group 304 acquires an instruction of the moving direction of the Nomarski prism 117 depending on which of the UP button 304b and the DOWN button 304c is pressed. Further, it can be said that the CPU 201 controls the DIC motor 118 to move the Nomarski prism 117 in the direction according to the instruction depending on which of the acquisition results of the instruction is.

  As described above, in the optical microscope of FIG. 1 according to the present embodiment, when the observer long presses the UP button 304b or the DOWN button 304c, the Nomarski prism 117 can be moved to a representative interference color. When the UP button 304b or the DOWN button 304c is pressed once, the interference color can be adjusted. Therefore, when observing a plurality of retardation positions on a plurality of samples 102 by differential interference observation, the observer makes full use of a long press and a single press on the UP button 304b or the DOWN button 304c as necessary. Retardation position reproduction for each observation can be easily performed.

  In the fine adjustment mode in the above-described retardation adjustment sequence, the above-described numerical value indicating the position is increased by “1” from the position immediately before the execution of the process by the processes from S204 to S207 (in the case of pressing the UP button 304b). ) Or decreased (in the case of pressing the DOWN button 304c), the Nomarski prism 117 is moved. Here, in the processing of S205, the value to be added (when pressing the UP button 304b) or subtracting (when pressing the DOWN button 304c) to the numerical value stored in the target_pos address of the RAM 202 is set to “1”. Alternatively, this value can be changed to a value smaller than the smallest of the numerical intervals stored in the ROM 203 from the IC [1] address to the IC [10] address. By changing in this way, the Nomarski prism 117 is moved by a movement amount shorter than the narrowest of the intervals of the positions of the Nomarski prism 117 when the representative interference color shown in the ROM 203 is observed. To be able to. That is, by this change, the movement amount of the Nomarski prism 117 in the fine movement mode can be moved more coarsely than before the change.

  In the present embodiment, when the pressing operation on the DIC operation button group 304 of the operation unit 3 is enabled, the origin movement sequence executed by the CPU 201 when recognizing that the ORG button 304a is pressed by the observer is as follows. These are the same as those in the first embodiment shown in FIG.

  As described above, according to the present embodiment, the optimum retardation position can be set quickly and accurately in the retardation adjustment when differential interference observation is performed with the microscope shown in FIG. Furthermore, the Nomarski prism 117 can be moved to a typical retardation position with a single button operation, and the same sample 102 can be easily moved to a plurality of retardation positions. On the other hand, the reproducibility of the retardation position can be improved.

  In the present embodiment, the retardation adjustment in the fine movement mode is selected by “single press” on the UP button 304b, and the retardation adjustment in the interference color movement mode is selected by “long press”. Instead, on the contrary, the retardation adjustment in the fine movement mode is selected by “long press” on the UP button 304b, and the retardation adjustment in the interference color movement mode is selected by “single press”. It is also possible.

As mentioned above, although embodiment of this invention was described, this invention is not limited to each embodiment mentioned above, A various improvement and change are possible within the range which does not deviate from the summary of this invention.
For example, in each of the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, the operation unit 3 is a dedicated one whose overview configuration is shown in FIG. Instead, a computer with a very standard configuration, that is, an arithmetic processing unit such as an MPU that controls the operation of the entire computer by executing a control program, and a main memory that the arithmetic processing unit uses as a work memory if necessary Various types of programs and control data are stored and stored, for example, a storage device such as a hard disk device, an interface unit that controls the transmission and reception of various data between the control unit 2, and various operations It can also be configured using a computer that includes an input unit that acquires an instruction from the operator shown attached and a display unit that displays various types of information.

  A configuration example of the control unit 2 when such a computer is used as an operation unit is shown in FIG. In FIG. 8, a PC 801 is a computer having a standard configuration as described above. The configuration of the control unit 2 shown in FIG. 8 is the same as that shown in FIG. 2 except that the operation unit I / F unit 204e is replaced with a PCI / F unit 802 and a nonvolatile memory 803 is provided. The configuration of the control unit 2 is the same.

  In the configuration of FIG. 8, the PC 801 executes a predetermined control program. When the PC 801 executes this control program, the PCI / F unit executes any command that causes the PC 801 to execute the retardation adjustment sequence or the origin movement sequence in each of the embodiments described above according to the operation by the observer with respect to the input unit of the PC 801. In accordance with the process of transmitting to 802 and the display instruction from the CPU 201 sent from the PCI / F unit 802, the display unit of the PC 801 includes information related to the display instruction (for example, information displayed on the display unit 305 in FIG. 3). The display process is performed. Further, when the PCI / F unit 802 receives these commands, the CPU 201 executes the retardation adjustment sequence shown in FIG. 5 or FIG. 7 or the origin movement sequence shown in FIG. 6 according to the received command.

  The non-volatile memory 803 stores the names of interference colors observed when differential interference observation is performed in advance in the ROM 203 in each of the first and second embodiments described above, and the differential using the microscope shown in FIG. A table indicating the relationship with the position of the Nomarski prism 117 when the interference color is observed in the interference observation is stored. According to this configuration, the contents of this table can be rewritten by the observer.

  In the configuration of FIG. 8, this table may be stored in the ROM 203 to prohibit the observer from rewriting the contents of this table. Further, by adding this nonvolatile memory 803 to the control unit 2 in FIG. 2, the contents of this table may be rewritten by the observer.

  In each of the first and second embodiments described above, an ORG button 304a, an UP button 304b, and a DOWN button 304c are provided on the operation unit 3 as a DIC operation button group 304 in order to obtain a movement instruction for the Nomarski prism 117. Was established. Here, in the screen example shown in FIG. 9, that is, the screen example for GUI displayed on the display unit of the PC 801 in the configuration of FIG. 8, the retardation position instruction button arranged between the UP button icon 904b and the DOWN button icon 904c. Like the icon group 904a, a button for obtaining a numerical instruction of the retardation position of the movement destination of the Nomarski prism 117 is further provided. When this instruction is obtained, the CPU 201 performs drive control of the DIC motor 118. The Nomarski prism 117 can be moved to the position according to the instruction.

In the screen example of FIG. 9, the retardation position display unit 905 displays the retardation position displayed on the display unit 305 in the operation unit 3 shown in FIG.
In the first embodiment, the amount of movement of the Nomarski prism 117 in the fine movement mode is constant. Alternatively, the movement amount in the fine movement mode can be changed based on the duration of the pressing operation. In order to do this, the CPU 201 executes a modification of the retardation adjustment sequence according to the first embodiment shown in FIG. 10 instead of the retardation adjustment sequence shown in FIG.

  Here, the processing from S301 to S305 surrounded by a broken line in FIG. 10 will be described. Note that the processing from S101 to S102 and S105 to S113 in FIG. 10 is the same as the processing in FIG.

  In S301, a process for determining whether or not the current value of the step counter i prepared at address i of the RAM 202 is smaller than “15” is performed. Here, when the current value of the step counter i is smaller than “15” (when the determination result is Yes), the process proceeds to S302, and the current value of the step counter i is “15” or more. If (when the determination result is No), the process proceeds to S110.

  In S302, processing for determining the current value of the above-described step counter i is performed. If the current value of the step counter i is “1” or more and less than “5”, the process proceeds to S303, and if the current value of the step counter i is “5” or more and less than “10”, the process proceeds to S304. If the current value of the step counter i is “10” or more and less than “15”, the process proceeds to S305.

  In S303, a process is performed in which the value obtained by adding “1” to the numerical value indicating the current position of the axis of the DIC motor 118 stored in the cur_pos address of the RAM 202 is stored in the target_pos address of the RAM 202, and thereafter S105. Proceed with the process.

  In S304, the value obtained by adding “5” to the numerical value stored in the above-mentioned cur_pos address is stored in the above-mentioned target_pos address, and thereafter the process proceeds to S105.

  In S305, the value obtained by adding “10” to the numerical value stored in the above-described cur_pos address is stored in the above-described target_pos address, and thereafter, the process proceeds to S105.

The above processing is performed in S301 to S305.
In the sequence shown in FIG. 10, when the pressing operation of the UP button 304b is continued, the processing from S301 to S305 and from S105 to S10 is repeated. Then, the retardation adjustment in the fine movement mode described above is performed, and during the period in which the value of the step counter i is “1” or more and less than “5”, the above-described numerical value indicating the position is “ The Nomarski prism 117 moves to a position increased by “1”.

  After that, the value of the step counter i gradually increases due to the operation of the process of S107, and when the value of the step counter i becomes “5” or more and less than “10”, the position indicating the position from the position immediately before the execution of the process is described above. The Nomarski prism 117 moves to a position where the numerical value has increased by “5”.

  Thereafter, when the value of the step counter i is further increased by the operation of S107 and the value of the step counter i becomes “10” or more and less than “15”, the above-described numerical value indicating the position from the position immediately before the execution of the process. The Nomarski prism 117 is moved to a position where is increased by “10”.

  As described above, in the sequence shown in FIG. 10, if the pressing operation of the UP button 304 b is continued during the period when the current value of the step counter i is “1” or more and less than “15”, the fine movement mode The amount of movement of the Nomarski prism 117 increases stepwise. In this way, by providing several steps for the amount of movement of the Nomarski prism 117 in the fine movement mode, it is possible to perform more rapid retardation alignment.

  After that, when the step counter i further increases by the action of the process of S107 and reaches “15”, the result of the determination process of S301 becomes No. Then, after that, the CPU 201 advances the processing to S110, and movement control of the Nomarski prism 117 in the interference color movement mode is performed.

  In addition, in each of the embodiments 1 and 2 described above, the storage areas of the ROM 203 from the IC [1] address to the IC [10] address and the ICC [1] address to the ICC [10] address are respectively stored. A stored table, that is, a table showing the relationship between the name of the interference color observed when differential interference observation is performed and the position of the Nomarski prism 117 when the interference color is observed in the differential interference observation with the microscope of FIG. Is common regardless of the type of objective lens 105 used in the microscope of FIG. Instead, it may be provided separately according to the type of the objective lens 105 used.

  In each of the first and second embodiments described above, the case of a microscope having one Nomarski prism 117 has been described as an example. However, the present invention is a microscope system including a plurality of DIC prisms. It is also possible to carry out with (for example, the optical microscope disclosed in Patent Document 2 mentioned above). In this case, since different Nomarski prisms are used according to the type of objective lens, the table described above is prepared according to the type of objective lens.

  In each of the first and second embodiments described above, the analyzer 113 and the polarizer 114 are provided as an integrated DIC cube 111, but these optical elements may be configured as independent units. It is. In this case, a dedicated actuator is provided for each of these optical elements.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, the Nomarski prism is used as the differential interference prism. However, instead of this, other optical elements such as a Wollaston prism can be used as the differential interference prism. It is.

It is a figure which shows schematic structure of the optical microscope which implements this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the control part and operation part of the optical microscope shown in FIG. It is a figure which shows the external appearance structure of an operation part. It is a memory map of RAM. It is a memory map of ROM. It is the figure which showed the processing content of the retardation adjustment sequence which concerns on Example 1 with the flowchart. It is the figure which showed the processing content of the origin movement sequence with the flowchart. It is the figure which showed the processing content of the retardation adjustment sequence which concerns on Example 2 with the flowchart. It is a figure which shows the structural example of the control part in the case of using a computer as an operation part. It is a figure which shows the example of a display screen in the display part of a computer. It is a figure which shows the modification of the retardation adjustment sequence shown in FIG.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Microscope frame 2 Control part 3 Operation part 102 Sample 103 Y stage 104 Revolver 105 Objective lens 106 Mounter 107 Revolver motor 108 Revolver sensor group 109 Z stage 110 Z stage motor 111 DIC cube 112 Half mirror 113 Polarizer 114 Analyzer 115 Cube motor 116 DIC Unit 117 Nomarski prism 118 DIC motor 119 Light source 120 Lamp house 121 Condensing lens 122 3 Eyeglass tube 123 Imaging lens 124 Eyepiece 125 CCD camera 201 CPU
202 RAM
203 ROM
204a Revolver I / F section 204b Cube I / F section 204c DIC unit I / F section 204d Z stage I / F section 204e Operation section I / F section 205 Bus line 206 Cube sensor 207 DIC sensor 208 Z stage sensor 301 Objective lens drive Button group 301a UP button 301b DOWN button 302 Observation method switching button group 302a BF button 302b DF button 302c DIC button 303 Z stage operation button group 303a UP button 303b DOWN button 304 DIC operation button group 304a ORG button 304b UP button 304c DOWN button 305 Display unit 801 PC
802 PCI / F part 803 Non-volatile memory 904a Retardation position instruction button icon group 904b UP button icon 904c DOWN button icon 905 Retardation position display part

Claims (11)

An optical microscope having a differential interference observation function,
A differential interference prism used to construct a differential interference observation optical system;
An instruction acquisition means for acquiring an instruction to move the differential interference prism;
In accordance with the acquisition of the instruction by the instruction acquisition unit, an adjustment unit that adjusts retardation in differential interference observation by moving the differential interference prism in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the optical system of the optical microscope;
Control means for timing the duration of the instruction acquired by the instruction acquisition means and controlling the adjustment means to change the amount of movement of the differential interference prism according to the duration of the instruction;
An optical microscope characterized by comprising:   The control means includes determination means for determining whether or not the duration of the instruction has passed a predetermined threshold time, and controls the adjustment means according to a determination result by the determination means to control the differentiation The optical microscope according to claim 1, wherein the movement amount of the interference prism is changed.   When the determination result indicates that the duration of the instruction has passed the threshold time, the control means coarsely moves the differential interference prism by a predetermined amount, and the duration of the instruction has passed the threshold time. 3. The optical system according to claim 2, wherein when the determination result indicates that the differential interference prism has not been moved, the adjustment unit is controlled to finely move the differential interference prism with a movement amount smaller than the predetermined amount. microscope. A table indicating in advance the relationship between the name of the interference color observed when differential interference observation is performed and the position of the differential interference prism in the direction when the interference color is observed in the differential interference observation by the optical microscope is stored. A table storage unit,
The control of the adjusting means by the control means is control for moving the differential interference prism to a position where the relationship with the name of the interference color is indicated in the table.
The optical microscope according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: The instruction acquired by the instruction acquisition means includes an instruction of the moving direction of the differential interference prism,
The control of the adjusting means by the control means is a position closest to the position of the differential interference prism immediately before the control in the direction related to the instruction of the moving direction and the relationship with the name of the interference color in the table. Is a control to move the differential interference prism to the nearest position shown by
The optical microscope according to claim 4.   5. The control unit according to claim 4, wherein the control unit performs the control of the adjustment unit again when the instruction acquired by the instruction acquisition unit continues even after the control of the adjustment unit. 5. The optical microscope according to 5.   The adjustment means is shorter than the narrowest one of the intervals of the positions of the differential interference prisms shown in the table each time continuation of acquisition of the instruction by the instruction acquisition means is detected. The optical microscope according to claim 4, wherein the differential interference prism is moved by a movement amount. A moving range information storage unit that stores moving range information indicating the position of the end of the moving range set in advance in the direction of the differential interference prism;
When the instruction acquisition unit has acquired an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the movement range, the adjustment unit is configured to detect the position of the end of the movement range indicated by the movement range information. Moving the differential interference prism to
The optical microscope according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The movement range information stored in the movement range information storage unit indicates a first position and a second position as information indicating an end position of the movement range,
When the instruction acquisition unit obtains an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the moving range after moving the differential interference prism to the first position, Moving the differential interference prism to two positions;
The optical microscope according to claim 8. An optical microscope having a differential interference observation function,
A differential interference prism used to construct a differential interference observation optical system;
An instruction acquisition means for acquiring an instruction to move the differential interference prism;
In accordance with the acquisition of the instruction by the instruction acquisition unit, an adjustment unit that adjusts retardation in differential interference observation by moving the differential interference prism in a direction orthogonal to the optical axis of the optical system of the optical microscope;
A moving range information storage unit storing moving range information indicating the position of the end of the moving range set in advance in the direction of the differential interference prism;
Have
When the instruction acquisition unit has acquired an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the movement range, the adjustment unit is configured to detect the position of the end of the movement range indicated by the movement range information. Moving the differential interference prism to
An optical microscope characterized by that. The movement range information stored in the movement range information storage unit indicates a first position and a second position as information indicating an end position of the movement range,
When the instruction acquisition unit obtains an instruction to move the differential interference prism to the end position of the movement range after moving the differential interference prism to the first position, Moving the differential interference prism to two positions;
The optical microscope according to claim 10.