JPH11333927A - Indenter pressing apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To make an impression be a desired shape even when a work is gouged while a moving stage on which a work is mounted is being moved by a method in which the stage on which an object to be processed is mounted in order to be transferred to an indenter is installed, and the indenter is fitted to the object in order to be able to move in the same direction with the moving direction. SOLUTION: This gouge processing head is constituted from a Z stage 3 which can move vertically to the processing surface of a work 20, an indenter driving means 4 for driving an indenter 5, and the indenter 5 fitted to the means 4. A piezoelectric element 8 for generating driving force for rotating the indenter driving means 4 pushes the means 4 simultaneously with the start of a gouge, and when the driving force of the piezoelectric element 8 is greater than the force of a spring 10, the means 4 moves very slightly in an arc around a hinge part 9. Accordingly, the indenter 5 fitted to the means 4 can be moved in the same direction as the moving direction of an XY stage 6.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an indenter pressing device which presses an indenter against a workpiece to form an indentation on the workpiece (hereinafter referred to as a workpiece).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a device using an indenter pressing device, a hardness tester for evaluating physical properties of a work by forming an indentation on the work and measuring the shape thereof, and using a mold as a work. There is a die indenter that forms an indentation on the surface. The major difference in function between the hardness tester and the mold indenter is that the former indenter pressing is single shot,
In the latter case of pressing the indenter, it is repeated.
For this reason, as the actuator required for pressing, a cylinder using a fluid pressure such as a hydraulic pressure or an air pressure is often used in the former, while an electrically driven actuator having a quick response is used in the latter. Examples of the electrically driven actuator include a moving coil device using an electromagnetic force by using a coil and a magnet, and a piezoelectric element using a piezoelectric effect.

[0003] If a device capable of continuously pressing the indenter is used, for example, a score line processing can be performed as in the device described in JP-A-8-1387.
A microlens array can be formed as in the device described in 327860. FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional indenter pressing device. This device includes an indenter 15
And a moving coil device 14 that holds the indenter 15 and presses it against the work 20, an XY stage 16 on which the work is placed and moves substantially parallel to the surface of the work, and a control device 17. The moving coil device 14 and the XY stage 16 are electrically controlled by the control device 17, and a large number of indentations can be formed by moving the work 20 together with the indenter up and down. If a mold is used as the work 20 and indentations are formed with the indenter 15 having a spherical surface at the tip, a mold for forming a microlens array having many inverted lenses can be manufactured.
In the prior art as described above, since the stage is stepped after the indenter separates from the work, it takes a lot of time to form a large number of indentations.

[0004]

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention have made continuous feeding of the XY stage in order to speed up the indentation processing so that the time can be reduced even if a large number of indentations are formed on the work. To send. However, if the plastic deformation time of the work by the indenter is fixed, the higher the speed of the stage, the more the indentation flows in the direction of movement of the stage, and there is a problem that a desired indentation cannot be obtained.

In view of the above problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an indenter pressing device in which an indentation has a desired shape even when an indentation is made while moving a stage on which a work is placed.

[0006]

According to the present invention, there is provided a moving stage for placing at least a workpiece and moving the workpiece with respect to an indenter. In an indenter pressing device that presses a workpiece to form an indent on the workpiece, the indenter is provided so as to be movable in the same direction as the moving direction of the workpiece. In this way, even when the workpiece moves, the indenter can follow the indenter, so that the indentation formed by the indenter can be prevented from becoming a flowing shape. Further, the indenter is fixed to an indenter driving section for supplying a pressing force to the workpiece, and the indenter driving section is driven by the actuator at substantially the same speed as the moving speed of the moving stage in the moving direction of the workpiece. Is moved, the present invention can be easily applied to the existing indenter pressing device.

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below.
The present invention is not limited to this.

[0008]

1 and 2 are schematic views of an indenter pressing device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, the overall configuration of the apparatus is a surface plate 1, a column 2 fixed on the surface plate 1, and fixed to the column 2,
A Z-stage 3, an indentation processing head including an indenter driving unit 4, an XY stage 6 fixed to the surface plate 1, and a control unit 7 for controlling the indentation processing head and the XY stage 6. I have. FIG. 1 is an enlarged view of the upper part of the indenter pressing device. As can be seen from this figure, the work 20 is placed on the XY stage 6 and fixed to the indentation processing head. 5 is pressed against the work 20 to form an indentation.

The XY stage 6 has a moving mechanism, which comprises a linear guide, a feed screw, a motor as driving means, and an encoder. The position control can be accurately performed by using a stepping motor or a servomotor as the motor. As shown in FIG. 1, the moving mechanism of the XY stage 6 includes a Y-direction moving mechanism 6b for moving the stage in the Y-axis direction parallel to the processing surface of the work 20, and a Y-axis moving mechanism parallel to the processing surface of the work 20 and the Y-axis. An X-direction moving mechanism 6a for moving the stage in the X-axis direction perpendicular to the direction;
The X direction moving mechanism 6a is provided on the direction moving mechanism 6b, and the work 20 is mounted thereon.

Next, the configuration of the indentation processing head will be described with reference to FIG. This indentation processing head is
A Z stage 3 movable perpendicularly to the machining surface 0,
It comprises an indenter driving means 4 for driving the indenter 5 and an indenter 5 attached to the indenter driving means 4. by the way,
Like the XY stage 6, the vertical movement mechanism of the Z stage 3 includes a linear guide provided on the table 3a, a feed screw, and a motor. The motor is controlled in an open loop by using a stepping motor.

The indenter driving means 4 moves the indenter in a direction perpendicular to the work surface of the work 20 by the moving coil device, thereby enabling the indenter 5 to make a dent. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining indenter driving when a moving coil device is used as the indenter driving means 4. The moving coil device has an outer permanent magnet 45.
And the inner permanent magnet 42, and the two permanent magnets 42,
45, and a coil portion disposed between them. Further, this coil portion is composed of a coil 44 and a core 43, and the coil 44 is bonded to the core 43. A shaft 41 directly connected to the indenter 5 is fixed to the center of the core 43. The shaft 41 is supported by a parallel spring (not shown), and the coil portion maintains a balanced state as shown in FIG. The lower part of the outer permanent magnet 45 is S
The upper part of the magnet has an N pole, and the inner permanent magnet 42 has an N pole at a lower part and an S pole at an upper part. Here, the coil 44
When current is applied so that the magnetic lines of force generated in the above are directed vertically downward as indicated by arrow B on the central axis of the shaft 41, the coil 4
The shaft 41 moves vertically downward due to a vertically downward force acting on the shaft 4. On the other hand, when a current in the opposite direction is applied to the coil 44, a vertically upward force acts to move the shaft 41 vertically upward. By outputting a pulse-shaped current whose polarity changes periodically to the coil 44 by the control means 7, the indenter 5 can be moved up and down at high speed. Also,
By changing the magnitude of the current supplied to the coil 44, the pressing force of the indenter 5 can be changed.

By the way, in the indenter pressing device according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 1, the indenter driving means 4 is rotatably attached to the table 3a. this is,
The indenter 5 is provided so as to be movable in accordance with the movement of the XY stage 6. As a configuration for this purpose, the present indenter pressing device is provided with a piezoelectric element 8 that generates a driving force for rotating the indenter driving means 4. The indenter driving means 4 is held on the table 3 a of the Z stage 3 by a hinge 9 provided above the indenter driving means 4. Further, a tension spring 10 is provided below the indenter driving means 4 and is urged toward the Z table 3a by the tension spring 10. The hinge 9
Can rotate in the direction in which the XY stage 6 moves at the time of a dent.

The piezoelectric element 8 is arranged between the hinge 9 and the tension spring 10 and is fixed to the table 3a of the Z stage 3. And the indenter driving means 4
The spring 10 allows the drive section of the piezoelectric element 8 to always contact the indenter drive means 4. Incidentally, the piezoelectric element 8 is controlled by the control means 7, and is supplied with electric power in synchronization with the operation of the indenter driving means 4. Therefore, the piezoelectric element 8 pushes the indenter driving means 4 at the same time as the start of the dent, and when the driving force of the piezoelectric element 8 exceeds the force of the spring 10, the indenter driving means 4 becomes very slightly arc-shaped around the hinge 9. Move. Therefore, the indenter 5 fixed to the indenter driving means 4 can be moved in the same direction as the moving direction of the XY stage 6. In addition, by setting the drive voltage applied to the piezoelectric element 8 by the control device 7 based on the moving speed of the XY stage 6, the indenter 5 can be moved at substantially the same speed as the moving speed of the XY stage 6.

Since the stroke of expansion and contraction of the piezoelectric element 8 is sufficiently smaller than the rotation radius of the tip of the indenter, the arc-shaped movement can be regarded as a linear movement. This piezoelectric element 8
By appropriately controlling the indenter driving means 4 and the XY stage 6, it is possible to process an indentation close to a perfect circle even at a processing speed at which the indentation has been elliptical up to now.

In the present invention, the XY stage 6 is not always required.
And the elongation speed of the piezoelectric element 8 do not have to match. This makes it possible to process an elliptical indent of an arbitrary length with a spherical indenter. Note that even in such a case, the XY stage 6 is required to form a predetermined elliptical indentation.
It is necessary to control at least one of the XY stage 6 and the piezoelectric element 8 so that the difference between the feed speed of the piezoelectric element 8 and the elongation rate of the piezoelectric element 8 becomes constant.

[0016]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment in which an indenter pressing device according to the present invention is used will be described. For example, 1 at 20 μm pitch
Assuming that indentation processing of 200 mm in rows is performed, up to now, the vertical movement cycle of the indentation processing head is limited to about 20 Hz, and the feed speed of the X stage synchronized with this is 0.4 mm per second, and one row Was about 500 seconds. However, in the present invention, the vertical movement cycle of the indentation processing head is set to 60 Hz, which is three times the conventional value, the feed speed of the X stage is set to 1.2 mm / sec, and the elongation speed of the piezoelectric element is set to X.
When equal to the stage feed speed, the processing time for one row is reduced to one third (about 167 seconds). Further, when the plastic deformation time of the work is short due to the shape of the indenter, X
The feed speed of the stage can be increased, and the processing time can be greatly reduced.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, since the indenter is provided so as to be movable in the same direction as the moving direction of the stage, even if the stage is moved, the indent has a desired shape. The effect is that the processing time can be greatly reduced.
Further, there is also an effect that an elliptic indent of an arbitrary length can be processed by a combination of the driving speed of the means for moving the indenter and the feed speed of the X stage.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is an enlarged side view of an indentation processing head of an indenter pressing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a configuration of an indenter pressing device according to the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a configuration of a moving coil device.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a configuration of a conventional indenter pressing device.

[Explanation of Signs] 1 ... Surface plate 2 ... Column 3 ... Z stage 4, 14 ... Indenter driving means 5, 15 ... Indenter 6, 16 ... XY stage 6a ... X-direction moving mechanism 6b Y-direction moving mechanism 7, 17 Control means 8 Piezoelectric element 9 Hinge 10 Tensile spring 20 Work 41 Shaft 42 ..Inner permanent magnet 43 ・ ・ ・ Core 44 ・ ・ ・ Coil 45 ・ ・ ・ Outer permanent magnet

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An indenter pressing device which has a moving stage for moving a placed workpiece with respect to an indenter, and presses the indenter against the workpiece to form an indent on the workpiece. The indenter pressing device, wherein the indenter is provided so as to be movable in the same direction as the moving direction of the workpiece. 2. The indenter pressing device according to claim 1, wherein the indenter is fixed to an indenter driving unit that supplies a pressing force to the workpiece, and the indenter driving unit is configured to perform the processing by an actuator. An indenter pressing device, wherein the indenter is moved at a speed substantially equal to a moving speed of the moving stage in a moving direction of an object.