JP2551218Y2 - Ultrasonic microscope equipment - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an ultrasonic microscope apparatus provided with both image measuring means and quantitative measuring means . 2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a mechanical scanning ultrasonic microscope for observing and measuring the microscopic or macroscopic structure and acoustic characteristics of an object using a focused ultrasonic beam has been developed. [0003] In principle, this ultrasonic microscope irradiates an object to be inspected with an ultrasonic beam focused in a conical shape, and moves the focal point of the ultrasonic beam within the surface of the object to be inspected or, Ultrasonic transducers detect reflected or transmitted ultrasonic waves generated by differences in elastic properties at each point in the body and convert them to electrical signals, which are displayed two-dimensionally on the surface of a cathode ray tube. As a converter for obtaining an ultrasonic microscope image or forming an XY recorder, typically, a converter using a lens, a converter using an ultrasonic converter on a concave or convex spherical surface, or the like is used. is there. [0004] Ultrasonic transducers are classified into transmission type and reflection type ultrasonic microscopes according to the arrangement of the ultrasonic transducers. FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a reflection type ultrasonic microscope, in which an acoustic lens is used to obtain a focused ultrasonic beam. The convergent ultrasonic transducer 3 forms a conical focused ultrasonic beam through the sexual coupler 2, is fixed on the test object holding table 5 via the liquid sound field medium 4, and is disposed substantially near the focal point. The object 6 is irradiated. The test object holding table 5 is moved in the X and Y directions by the XY direction moving device 7. Of course, instead of moving the test object holding table 5, the ultrasonic transducer 3 is moved.
May be moved in the X and Y directions, and the XY direction moving device 7 is controlled by the scanning control circuit 8. [0007] The reflected wave reflected from the test object 6 is collected again by the ultrasonic transducer 3, converted into an electric signal, supplied to the display device 9 via the directional coupler 2, and an ultrasonic microscope image is obtained. Can be A measurement method for reading the acoustic characteristics of a test object from an ultrasonic microscope image as a function of a place is called image measurement by an ultrasonic microscope. In this image measurement, the ultrasonic microscope arranges the test object 6 on a focal plane in a liquid sound field medium (usually water) of a focused ultrasonic beam and captures an ultrasonic image. In addition to the use of the lens, it is often used while being actively shifted from the focal plane. This is a feature of the ultrasonic microscope, and a change in the inside of the object to be inspected, which cannot be observed with a conventional optical microscope, electron microscope, or the like, can be observed with good contrast. On the other hand, a sound speed measuring device for measuring the sound speed of an object to be inspected has been developed by improving the above-mentioned ultrasonic microscope for image measurement. FIG. 6 shows the configuration of this conventional sound velocity measuring apparatus. The same reference numerals as those in FIG. 5 denote the same parts, and are arranged on a test object holding table 5. The test object 6 (for example, a solid substance) is moved by the Z-direction moving device 10 so as to approach the direction of the ultrasonic transducer 3, and the output of the ultrasonic transducer 3 is observed by the recording device 11. The output curve of the ultrasonic transducer 3 is called a V (Z) curve or an acoustic characteristic curve. The periodicity of this curve depends on the material, which includes the reflected wave from the vicinity of the Z-axis of the focused ultrasonic beam and the re-emitted wave of the leaky elastic wave excited by the beam near the critical angle. It is known that the interference is caused by the interference. Therefore, by measuring the period ΔZ in FIG. 7, the velocity of the leaky elastic wave of the substance can be obtained by calculation. The relationship between the period ΔZ and the speed of sound is approximately given by the following equation. [Equation 1] Here, V1 is the longitudinal wave velocity of the liquid sound field medium 4, Vs is the leaky elastic wave velocity, and f is the ultrasonic frequency used. Therefore, by analyzing the V (Z) curve, it is possible to quantitatively determine the acoustic characteristics (sound speed, propagation attenuation, etc.) of the solid. For this reason, the measurement by the apparatus shown in FIG. 6 is called quantitative measurement of the acoustic characteristics of the test object using an ultrasonic microscope. [0021] However, in the image measuring device configured as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to know the change in the structure inside the object to be inspected. In addition, the quantitative measurement device configured as shown in FIG. 6 cannot know the relationship between the acoustic characteristics and the structural change inside the test object. Means for Solving the Problems The present invention provides a method for inspecting an object to be inspected.
Scanning is sequentially performed by a conical focusing ultrasonic transducer that irradiates a focused ultrasonic wave narrowed in a conical shape, and an ultrasonic beam is emitted from the conical focusing ultrasonic transducer to the object to be inspected, and a reflected wave or transmitted wave thereof is emitted. an image measuring means for detecting a more ultrasound images, as can irradiate a linear focused ultrasound beam the test subject of at or desired sampling portion by scanning positions paired <br/> response in said image measuring means Above
Conical focused ultrasound transducer and the exchange-Enabled <br/> linear focused ultrasound transducer, wherein detecting the reflected waves or transmitted waves while changing the distance between the object to be inspected and the linear focused ultrasound transducer to the quantitatively measuring means for measuring a quantity related to partial acoustic characteristics of the device under test, the quantitative meter and the measurement result obtained by the image measuring means
Means for displaying the measurement results based on the measurement results so that they can be compared
And [0023] [act] In the present invention, and displays by comparing the measurement result of each part corresponding to the by quantitative measurement and ultrasonic image by image measurement ultrasonic image. Thus, for example, sound or the like can be displayed corresponding to the particle size of the substance of the test object or the arrangement of the particle diameter of the substance. [0025] [Embodiment] FIG. 1, shows a block diagram of an ultrasonic microscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, 1 high-frequency pulse oscillator, 2 directional coupler 3 is narrowed conically A focused ultrasonic transducer for irradiating the focused ultrasonic wave, 4 is a liquid sound field medium, 5 is an object holding table, and 6 is an object to be inspected. omitted, in the present invention, XY direction moving device 13 and the Z-axis direction moving device 14 is connected to the signal storage unit 12,
Further, the signal storage device 12 is connected to the microcomputer 15, further, the display device 16 is connected to the microcomputer 15, and the test object holding table 5 is moved by the XY direction moving device 13. In the thus constructed ultrasonic microscope apparatus of the present embodiment, similarly to the conventional example of FIG. 5, the electric signal from the high-frequency pulse oscillator 1 passes through the directional coupler 2 to the focused ultrasonic transducer 3. The focused ultrasound transducer 3 is transmitted from the
The test object 6 on the test object holding table 5 is irradiated via the liquid sound field medium 4. At that time, the focused ultrasonic transducer 3 is moved in the X and Y directions by the XY direction moving device 13 in accordance with a signal from the microcomputer 15. The reflected wave reflected by the object 6 is collected by the focusing ultrasonic transducer 3, converted into an electric signal, and passed through the directional coupler 2 to the signal storage device 1.
2 is stored. The acoustic characteristics of the range corresponding to the observation on the test object 6 in this way are stored in the storage device 12 as a function of the location of the range. After the image measurement is completed, the X- and Y-directions of the focused ultrasonic transducer 3 are scanned by the XY-direction moving device 13 again by the signal from the microcomputer 15 as described above. At each desired point in the scanning position, the inspected object 6 is moved or deviated by moving the focused ultrasonic transducer 3 closer or farther away from the focused ultrasonic beam by the Z-axis direction moving device 14 so as to defocus the focused ultrasonic beam. Then, a measurement corresponding to the quantitative measurement of the conventional example in FIG. 6 is performed. At this time, the reflected signal from the test object 6 corresponds to the position of the above-described image measurement, and the microcomputer 15
The V (Z) curve is analyzed, and stored in the storage device 12 corresponding to each of the above-described image measurement positions. The measured values stored in the storage device by the image measurement and the quantitative measurement are alternately displayed on the display device 16 at the corresponding positions, so that the structure and acoustic characteristics of each part of the test object can be seen at a glance. Can be determined. Further, the values obtained by the image measurement and the values obtained by the quantitative measurement are represented by different colors, and are displayed on the display device 16 so that the colors are superimposed. Can be distinguished at a glance. Further, the ultrasonic image obtained by the image measurement is subjected to image processing such as contour enhancement, so that the size of the particle size is automatically measured, and the quantitative measurement of the acoustic characteristics based on the V (Z) curve is performed. Can be used to correlate results. In the above embodiment, quantitative measurement is performed for each point. For example, quantitative measurement is performed for a plurality of points for each scanning line in the X or Y direction, and the average value is calculated by a microcomputer. 15 and calculated in each and stored in the detected value and stored in association device 12 detected by the image measurement, these values may be displayed on the display device 16 so as to overlap respectively. [0036] In this case, as shown in FIG. 2, the focused ultrasonic transducer 3 is moved to a desired portion of the object to be inspected 6 in the XY direction moving device 13, the XY direction moving device 13 in the switching device 18 By separating and oscillating the focusing ultrasonic transducer 3 at the position in the X and / or Y directions by the XY direction vibrating device 17, the acoustic average value of the portion can be mechanically detected. In the ultrasonic microscope apparatus of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, a focused ultrasonic transducer 1 for generating a linear focused ultrasonic wave as shown in FIG. 3 only at the time of quantitative measurement.
9, the object to be inspected 6 is moved in the Z-axis direction by the Z-axis direction moving device 14 for each scanning line to perform quantitative measurement, and the measured value obtained by the image measurement of the object to be inspected is Corresponding data can be stored in the storage device 12. In this way, an acoustic average value for each scanning line can be detected. In this case, an acoustic average value around the Z axis can be detected by repeating the same measurement while rotating the test object around the Z axis. Also, as shown in FIG. 4, a focused ultrasonic transducer 19 for generating a linear focused ultrasonic beam
By vibrating the focused ultrasonic transducer 19 perpendicularly to the line direction,
The acoustic average value including the periphery of the focused ultrasonic transducer 19 in a direction perpendicular to the line direction can be detected. Although the ultrasonic transducer is moved in the above embodiment, it goes without saying that the sample may be moved. In the above description, the focused ultrasonic transducer 3 was moved in the X and Y directions by the XY direction moving device 13, and the test object holding table 5 was moved in the Z axis direction by the Z axis direction moving device 14. The focused ultrasonic transducer 3 may be moved in the Z-axis direction by the Z-axis direction moving device 14, and the inspection object holding table 15 may be moved in the X and Y directions by the XY direction moving device 13. Although the focused ultrasonic transducer 3 detects the reflected wave from the object 6 to be inspected, two focused ultrasonic transducers are provided with the object 6 interposed therebetween.
The transmitted wave of the focused ultrasonic wave may be detected. As described above, the ultrasonic microscope apparatus of the present invention has an image measuring means for detecting an ultrasonic microscope image of an object to be inspected, and each of which corresponds to the scanning of the ultrasonic microscope image. Providing the quantitative measurement means for detecting the acoustic characteristics of the portion has the advantage that the acoustic characteristics can be detected in accordance with the particle size of the test object and the arrangement of the particle sizes.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic microscope apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an ultrasonic microscope apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view of a focused ultrasound transducer that generates a linear focused ultrasound beam. FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a part of an ultrasonic microscope according to another embodiment of the present invention using the focused ultrasonic transducer of FIG. 6; FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the principle of a conventional reflection type ultrasonic microscope. FIG. 6 is a diagram showing a principle of measuring acoustic characteristics by a reflection type ultrasonic microscope. FIG. 7 is a diagram showing a periodically changing V (Z) curve detected by the reflection type ultrasonic microscope of FIG. 6; [Description of Signs] 1 High-frequency pulse oscillator 2 Directional coupler 3 Focused ultrasonic transducer 4 Liquid sound field medium 5 Inspection object holding table 6 Inspection object 12 Signal storage device 13 XY direction movement device 14 Z axis direction movement device 15 Microcomputer 16 Display device 17 XY direction moving device 18 Switching device 19 Focused ultrasonic transducer 20 Vibration device

   ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of front page                   (56) References JP-A-58-9063 (JP, A)                 Shokai Sho 59-179371 (JP, U)

Claims (1)

(57) [Rules for requesting registration of utility model] Irradiate focused ultrasound focused conically on the object
Scanning with a conical focusing ultrasonic transducer,
Image measuring means for irradiating the inspection object with an ultrasonic beam from the conical focused ultrasonic transducer and detecting an ultrasonic image from a reflected wave or a transmitted wave thereof, and scanning by the image measuring means irradiating the linear focused ultrasound beam the test subject of at positions as to correspond with or desired sampling portion
Said conical focusing ultrasound transducer and
Replaceable linear focusing ultrasonic transducer.
And a quantitative measuring means for detecting a reflected wave or a transmitted wave thereof while changing an interval between the test object and the linear focused ultrasonic transducer, and measuring an amount related to a partial acoustic characteristic of the test object. And a comparison between the measurement result by the image measurement means and the measurement result by the quantitative measurement result
Means for displaying as possible as possible . 2. 2. The acoustic average value of the linear focused ultrasonic transducer that emits the linear focused ultrasonic beam is detected by vibrating the linear focused ultrasonic transducer in a direction perpendicular to the line direction. Ultrasonic microscope equipment. 3. A linear focused ultrasound transducer that emits the linear focused ultrasound beam, at one or more sampling portions per scan line across the device under test;
2. The ultrasonic microscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is rotated around a vertical axis of the surface of the inspection object. 4. In the quantitative measuring means , the ultrasonic transducer is used to set the sound at each of a plurality of desired positions of the test object.
The ultrasonic microscope apparatus according to claim 1, wherein an amount related to the characteristic is measured.