JPH07139929A - Apparatus for positioning inclining angle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To easily adjust an inclining angle and an inclining direction by hands without hardly generating errors in a compact structure and also in a short time automatically. CONSTITUTION:In a first feature of the apparatus, a stage 29 is supported at one point by 28 so that the stage 29 is freely inclined about a fulcrum of the point, while two other points of the stage 29 are supported by two retractable members 30a, 31a which can change a supporting height for the stage 29, and driving means 30, 31 for moving the retractable members 30a, 31a individually are provided. In a second feature, there are provided means 36 for measuring interference fringes when an object 25 on the stage 29 an inclining angle of which is to be set is photographed, means 37 for operating a necessary retreating amount of each of the retractable members 30a, 31a so as to set the object 25 at a predetermined inclining angle and a predetermined inclining direction based on the measured data, and a control means 38 for driving the driving means 30, 31 in accordance with the operating result.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a tilt angle positioning device, and more particularly, to a tilt angle and tilt direction of a work surface mounted on a stage supported so as to be tiltable with respect to a reference object on a tilt angle positioning target surface. The present invention relates to a tilt angle positioning device capable of precisely adjusting and setting.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In order to accurately measure the dimensions of precision element parts such as a head for a hard disk of a computer, it is necessary to accurately position the inclination angle of the work piece in a desired state. Therefore, conventionally, a two-degree-of-freedom tilt angle precision positioning device as shown in FIG. 7 has been used.

This is composed of two stage devices A and B in which a stage 2 is pivotally supported on a base 1 by a horizontal rotary shaft 3.
Are superposed in a two-stage manner so that the respective rotary shafts 3 are oriented orthogonally when viewed from the plane. Each stage 2
Has a passive portion 2a with which the tool shaft 4 provided on each base 1 abuts, and each stage 2 is moved by moving the tool shaft 4 forward and backward by the driving means 5 to change the pushing position of the passive portion 2a. It is possible to adjust the inclination angle around each of the rotation axes 3 which are orthogonal to each other.

Therefore, by adjusting the inclination angles of the upper and lower stage devices A and B, the inclination angle of the stage 2 of the upper stage device B is adjusted around the two rotation shafts 3.

Then, the work 6 is placed on the upper stage 2.
Observed through the interference objective lens 8 by the microscope 7 placed on the upper surface of the work 6, and the inclination angle and the inclination direction of the upper surface of the work 6 are determined by the state of the interference fringes projected according to the inclination angle and the inclination direction of the upper surface of the work 6. While judging
By operating the two driving means 5, each stage device A,
The tilt angle positioning adjustment at B is artificially performed to position the work 6 at a predetermined tilt angle and tilt direction.

[0006]

However, in the conventional device described above, the two stage devices A and B are stacked in two stages, and the positioning error in each stage device A and B is accumulated. The device becomes large. Also, 2
Since the relationship between the angle adjustment of the two stage devices A and B and the inclination angle and the inclination direction of the work is complicated, and the above error may be accumulated, the work of manually adjusting the position of the work should be performed by trial and error. And often spend a lot of time.

An object of the present invention is to solve such a conventional problem, and it is small in size and hardly causes a positioning error.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a tilt angle positioning device that facilitates positioning adjustment and a tilt angle positioning device that can automatically perform positioning adjustment.

[0008]

In order to achieve the above object, the tilt angle positioning device of the present invention is capable of tilting one point of a stage supporting an object to be positioned about a fulcrum at this one point. In this way, the other two points of the stage are supported by two advancing / retreating members that can change the supporting height of the stage by advancing / retreating, and the advancing / retreating members are individually driven to advance / retreat to move the stage to the fulcrum. The first feature is that the apparatus is provided with an advancing / retreating drive means for setting a predetermined tilted state of rotation.

Further, in such an apparatus, an image pickup means for picking up an image of a tilt angle positioning target object on a stage and displaying interference fringes according to a tilt angle and a tilt direction of the tilt positioning target object with respect to a reference plane, and the imaging means. Measuring means for measuring the tilt angle and the tilt direction of the tilt angle positioning target surface by the interference fringes projected by the means, and the tilt angle positioning target object having the predetermined tilt angle and tilt direction based on the measurement information from the measuring means. For calculating the required amount of advance / retreat of the two advancing / retreating members, and the drive means is operated in accordance with the result of the arithmetic operation by the arithmetic means so that the inclination angle of the object to be positioned becomes a predetermined angle. The second feature is that the control means for controlling the advancing / retreating position of the advancing / retreating member is provided.

[0010]

In the above-mentioned configuration of the first feature of the tilt angle positioning device of the present invention, one point of one stage that supports the tilt angle positioning object is supported so as to be tiltable around the fulcrum, and the other two are supported. A structure in which each point is only supported by an advancing / retreating member that is driven back and forth, and by adjusting the advancing / retreating position of each advancing / retreating member, a two-degree-of-freedom tilt angle adjustment function is achieved,
The device can be made small with a small number of parts, and since the supporting height at two points by the two advancing / retreating members is directly related to the inclination angle around the fulcrum of the stage and the inclination direction, an error occurs. It is difficult to adjust the position manually.

In the above-mentioned configuration of the second feature of the tilt angle positioning apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the case of the first feature, from the interference fringes imaged by the image pickup means of the tilt angle positioning target object on the stage. The tilt angle and the tilt direction of the tilt angle positioning object are measured, and in order to adjust the tilt angle positioning of the tilt angle positioning object on the stage accordingly, the measurement is automatically performed by the measuring means, Based on this measurement information, the calculation means calculates the required amount of advance / retreat of the two advancing / retreating members for making the inclination angle positioning object a predetermined inclination angle and inclination direction, and the control means determines the two driving means in accordance with the result of the operation. Is automatically driven to perform tilt angle positioning adjustment based on the measurement result, saving labor by a person.
Working time can be significantly reduced.

[0012]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An inclination angle positioning device as an embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to FIGS.

As shown in FIG. 2, the tilt angle positioning device of this embodiment has one stage 29 on which the work 25, which is the tilt angle positioning object, is placed. This stage 29
1 is a plate member having a substantially triangular shape in a plan view as shown in FIG. 1A, and has three peripheral portions as fulcrum shafts 28, and two tools 30 as advancing / retreating members for performing tilt angle positioning adjustment.
a and 31a, respectively.

A recess 29a as shown in FIGS. 1A and 1B is formed in each of the supporting portions of the stage 29,
The fulcrum shaft 28 and the tips of the tools 30a and 31a are fitted together. The fulcrum shaft 28 is fixed as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, so that one point of the stage 29 is supported at a predetermined height, and a so-called pivot in which the steel ball 20 is fitted between its tip and the recess 29a. The bearing 21 is constituted, and the stage 29 supports the fulcrum shaft 28 so as to be freely tilted around the tip of the fulcrum shaft 28.

The respective tools 30a and 31a are vertically driven by the respective forward / backward drive means 30 and 31, and their tips are fitted into the recesses 29a through the steel balls 20 similarly to the pivot bearings 21 of the stage 29. The stage 29 can be supported comfortably at any advancing / retreating position without being affected by changes in the inclination angle and the inclination direction.

As a result, the two tools 30a and 31a are
The stage 29 can be tilted in any way around the fulcrum of the pivot bearing 21 by moving back and forth by the forward / backward drive means 30 and 31, and the tilt angle and the tilt of the stage 29 can be achieved by performing the 2-degree-of-freedom tilt angle adjusting function. The orientation can be adjusted.

Therefore, one point of one stage 29 supporting the work 25 is supported so as to be tiltable around the fulcrum by the pivot bearing 21, and the other two points are supported by the tools 30a and 31a driven to move back and forth. With the above configuration, a two-degree-of-freedom tilt angle adjusting function is achieved by adjusting the advancing / retreating position of each tool 30a, 31a by each advancing / retreating drive means 30, 31, and the tilt angle positioning device is made small with a small number of parts. You can do it, two tools 30
Since the support heights at two points by a and 31a are directly related to the inclination angle and the inclination direction around the fulcrum of the pivot bearing 21 of the stage 29, an error is unlikely to occur and the position can be easily adjusted manually. be able to.

However, in the present embodiment, the inclination angle positioning adjustment of the work 25 placed on the stage 29 is automatically performed to save the labor of a person and to drastically reduce the required time.

To explain this, as shown in FIG. 2, the work 25 is moved by the image pickup camera 32 to the interference objective lens 33.
An image is taken through the screen to project an interference fringe 40 as shown in FIG. 3 according to the inclination angle and the inclination direction with respect to the reference plane of the upper surface of the work 25, for example, the horizontal plane. The image pickup camera 32 is accurately moved up and down in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal plane by a straight guide 35 so as to perform focusing, and the focus driving means 34 for focusing uses a focusing axis (not shown) of the image pickup camera 32. It is provided to drive.

The video signal from the image pickup camera 32 is input to the visual recognition section 36, where the position and tilt angle and tilt direction of the work 25 can be measured by the interference fringes 40.

Each measurement result obtained by the visual recognition unit 36 is input to the calculating means 17, where the work 25 is positioned and adjusted to a predetermined tilt angle based on the measurement result regarding the tilt angle and the tilt direction of the work 25. Required tools 30a and 3
The required amount of advance / retreat of 1a is calculated.

The results of each calculation by the calculation means 37 are input to the command control means 38. The command control means 38 outputs an advancing / retreating operation signal to each advancing / retreating driving means 30 and 31 based on the required advancing / retreating amount, and the inclination angle and inclination direction of the stage 29 are set so that the work 25 is in a predetermined inclination angle positioning state. To be able to adjust.

The designation control means 38 inputs a focus signal to the focus driving means 34 because it is necessary to measure the inclination direction of the work 25 in the visual recognition section 36 as described later. Allow Focusing to take place.

The specific tilt angle positioning adjustment processing will be described below. The interference fringes 40 projected on the screen of the image pickup camera 32 are as shown in FIG.
The work 25 has an inclination θ according to the inclination direction with respect to the reference surface, and a pitch P according to the inclination angle with respect to the reference surface.
The inclination θ and the pitch P are measured by the visual recognition unit 36.

Here, there are two possible inclination directions of the work 25 corresponding to the inclination θ, and they are not specified. In order to determine this, next, the imaging camera 32 is moved in the positive direction of the focus axis by a minute amount, for example, by 1/8 wavelength of the interference light, and the moving direction of the interference fringes 40 at this time is visually recognized by the visual recognition unit. 36
Is measured and the initial inclination direction of the work 25 corresponding to the measured θ is specified.

This will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG. 4 shows a case where the inclination θ of the interference fringes projected on the screen is 90 degrees, and FIG. 5 shows the image pickup camera 32 by an arrow. The moving direction of the interference fringes 40 when moved by 1/8 wavelength of the interference light is shown in the positive direction of the focus axis.
In the figure, the broken line indicates the position of the interference fringe 40 before the image pickup camera 32 is moved, and the solid line indicates the position of the interference fringe 40 after the image pickup camera 32 is moved.

As is apparent from FIG. 4, even if the inclination θ (= 90 degrees) of the interference fringes 40 and the pitch P are the same, the two inclination directions of the workpiece 25 are considered as shown in (a) and (b). . Therefore, it is understood that the required amount of advance / retreat of the tools 30a and 31a cannot be determined unless the initial inclination direction of the work 25 is grasped.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the image pickup camera 32 is moved by 1/8 wavelength of the interference light in the positive direction of the focus axis indicated by the arrow in FIG. 5, and the moving direction of the interference fringe 40 at that time is recognized. Therefore, the inclination direction of the work 25 is determined. In FIG. 5, since the interference fringe 40 moves to the right of the screen from the position of the broken line to the position of the solid line, it can be seen that the work 25 is inclined so that the right direction of the screen becomes lower.
This method can be applied even if the inclination θ of the interference fringe 40 is in any direction. Further, in the present embodiment, the moving amount of the image pickup camera 32 is set to 1/8 wavelength of the interference light, but the moving amount of the image pickup camera 32 can be freely set as long as the moving direction of the interference fringe is not erroneously recognized. The moving direction of the imaging camera 32 need not be limited to the positive direction.

The inclination θ, the pitch P, obtained in this way,
The inclination angle and the inclination direction of the work 25 in the initial state can be known from the inclination direction.

Therefore, these information and the work 25
Based on the tilt angle and the tilt direction required by, that is, the finally necessary tilt θ ₀ and the pitch P ₀ [FIG. 3 (b)] that should be obtained on the imaging screen corresponding thereto. The required amount of advance / retreat of the tools 30a and 31a and the amount of focusing of the imaging camera 32 are calculated.

Based on the calculation result, the command control means advances and retracts each tool 30a, 31a by the required advance / retreat amount,
Further, a command is issued to each of the advancing / retreating driving means 30 and 31 so that the imaging camera 32 is moved by the focusing amount, and the necessary amount of operation is performed.

As a result, the work 2 on the stage 29 is
It is possible to automatically adjust the positioning so that 5 has a predetermined predetermined tilt angle and tilt direction.

Here, a method of operating the advancing / retreating drive means 30, 31 of the two tools 30a, 31a to adjust the inclination angle and inclination direction of the work 25 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 6A shows the initial tilted state of the work 25. FIG. 6B shows a state in which the inclination of the interference fringes matches the final target inclination θ _0, and the pitch of the interference fringes 40 at this time is P ₁ . FIG. 6C shows the interference fringe 40.
Shows the state in which the inclination and the pitch match with the final target inclination θ ₀ and pitch P ₀ . That is, the positioning is completed.

Interference fringe 40 relating to the work 25 in the initial state
From θ and P of the above, and information of the inclination direction of the work 25, first, the advance / retreat amounts L _A1 , L _B1 (L _A1 = L A) of the tools 30a and 31a necessary for adjusting the inclination of the interference fringe to a desired angle θ _{0. B1} )
Is calculated by the calculating means 37, and the advancing / retreating driving means 30 and 31 are operated to adjust the inclination of the interference fringe 40 to be θ ₀ . Next, based on the pitch P ₁ at this time, the interference fringes 40
Tools 30a, 31a needed to adjust the pitch of the
The calculation means 37 determines the advance / retreat amounts L _A2 and −L _B2 of the tool, and operates the advance / retreat driving means 30 and 31 of the tools 30a and 31a to adjust the pitch of the interference fringes 40 to P ₀ .

In this way, the position adjustment of the inclination angle and inclination direction of the work 25 is completed. In the above description, for easy understanding, once the state is changed to the state of FIG. 6B, the operation and the tool are divided into two so that the final state of FIG. 6C is obtained. 30a, is performed the operation of 31a, in fact, the state of FIG. 6 (b) is made on the calculation, each tool 30a, 31a retreat amount L _a of the _{L B L a = L A1 +} L A2 With L _B = L _B1 and L _B2 , one movement of the tools 30a and 31a is performed as shown in FIG.
The final positioning completion state shown in (c) is obtained.

Further, in the present embodiment, the inclination θ of the interference fringes 40 and the pitch P are measured first, and then the inclination direction of the work 25 is recognized. First, the inclination direction is measured, and then the inclination θ.
Needless to say, the pitch P may be measured.

[0038]

According to the first feature of the tilt angle positioning device of the present invention, one point of one stage supporting a tilt angle positioning object is supported so as to be tiltable around a fulcrum,
Only by supporting the other two points by the advancing / retreating members that are driven to advance / retreat, it is possible to achieve a two-degree-of-freedom tilt angle adjusting function, and to make the device small with a small number of parts. Since the support height at is directly related to the tilt angle and tilt direction around the fulcrum of the stage,
An error is unlikely to occur and the position can be easily adjusted manually.

According to the second feature of the tilt angle positioning apparatus of the present invention, in addition to the case of the first feature, the stage is based on the measurement of the interference fringes when the tilt angle positioning target object on the stage is imaged. To perform the tilt angle positioning adjustment, the calculation of the necessary amount of advance / retreat of the two advancing / retreating members for setting the inclination angle positioning object to a predetermined inclination angle and inclination direction based on the measurement information, and Since the two advancing / retreating members are driven and the tilt angle positioning adjustment is automatically performed according to the result of this calculation, it is possible to save the labor of a person and to greatly reduce the working time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view, a side view, and a partial cross-sectional view showing a mechanism portion of a tilt angle positioning device as an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a block diagram showing a relationship with a control system of the apparatus of FIG.

FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of a state of interference fringes displayed on the screen of the image pickup camera.

FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing two types of inclined states of a work corresponding to one state of interference fringes.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram showing a state of an operation of determining which of the two inclined states of the work in FIG. 4 is the inclined direction.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram showing a relationship between a positioning adjustment state of a tilt angle and a tilt direction of a work and a change in interference fringes.

FIG. 7 is a front view showing a conventional 2-DOF tilt angle positioning device.

[Explanation of symbols]

 29 stages 30, 31 advancing / retreating driving means 30a, 31a advancing / retreating members 32 imaging camera 33 interference objective lens 34 focus driving means 35 rectilinear guide 36 measuring means 37 computing means 38 control means 40 interference fringes

 ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Yukihisa Ishimaru 1006 Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. A stage 1 for supporting an object to be positioned.
The point is supported so that it can be freely tilted around the fulcrum at this one point, and the other two points of the stage are respectively supported by two advancing / retreating members whose supporting height of the stage can be changed by advancing / retreating. An inclination angle positioning device comprising: an advance / retreat driving means for individually advancing / retreating the stage to set the stage in a predetermined inclination state around the fulcrum. 2. An image pickup means for picking up an image of a tilt angle positioning target object on a stage, and displaying an interference fringe corresponding to a tilt angle and a tilt direction of the tilt positioning target object with respect to a reference plane, and an interference fringe image projected by this image pickup means. Measuring means for measuring the tilt angle and tilt direction of the tilt angle positioning object by
Based on the measurement information from the measuring means, a calculating means for calculating the necessary advance / retreat amounts of the two advancing / retreating members for setting the inclination angle positioning object at a predetermined inclination angle and inclination direction, and a calculation result by the calculating means. The driving means to operate so that the tilt angle of the object to be tilted becomes a predetermined angle.
The tilt angle positioning device according to claim 1, further comprising a control means for controlling the advancing / retreating position of one advancing / retreating member.