Classifications

• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B11/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B11/24—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring contours or curvatures
  • G01B11/2441—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring contours or curvatures using interferometry
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B11/00—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B11/24—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring contours or curvatures
  • G01B11/245—Measuring arrangements characterised by the use of optical techniques for measuring contours or curvatures using a plurality of fixed, simultaneously operating transducers
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B9/00—Measuring instruments characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B9/02—Interferometers
  • G01B9/02055—Reduction or prevention of errors; Testing; Calibration
  • G01B9/02056—Passive reduction of errors
  • G01B9/02058—Passive reduction of errors by particular optical compensation or alignment elements, e.g. dispersion compensation
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B9/00—Measuring instruments characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B9/02—Interferometers
  • G01B9/02055—Reduction or prevention of errors; Testing; Calibration
  • G01B9/02075—Reduction or prevention of errors; Testing; Calibration of particular errors
  • G01B9/02078—Caused by ambiguity
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B9/00—Measuring instruments characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B9/02—Interferometers
  • G01B9/02083—Interferometers characterised by particular signal processing and presentation
• • G—PHYSICS
  • G01—MEASURING; TESTING
  • G01B—MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS
  • G01B9/00—Measuring instruments characterised by the use of optical techniques
  • G01B9/02—Interferometers
  • G01B9/0209—Low-coherence interferometers

Definitions

• the invention relates to non-contact techniques for determining the position in space of points on an object part, including sub-micron precision height measurements of a selected part surface.
• Example applications are surface profiling, the determination of the height of surface features, which may include dissimilar materials, and the measurement of surface features with respect to a fixed coordinate system or datum so as to determine part location and orientation.
• Height scanning interferometry employs broadband light sources to determine 3-D surface height profiles without the fringe-order ambiguity normally associated with laser-based interferometry. In the visible, this height scanning is often referred to in the art as scanning white light interferometry (SWLI), coherence radar, correlation microscopy and vertical scanning interferometry.
• SWLI scanning white light interferometry
• coherence radar coherence radar
• correlation microscopy correlation microscopy
• the invention features methods and systems that extend the basic technique of height scanning interferometry by compensating for the phase change on reflection (PCOR) caused by the interferometer and the object part being measured, including the wavelength dependence (dispersion) of PCOR.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the invention extends height-scanning interferometry to those metrology problems for which the absolute position and orientation of the surface is as important as the surface texture and profile.
• the overall position (piston), tip and tilt of the object part can be determined with respect to a fixed point or plane of reference when constructing the surface profile.
• the invention features a surface profiling method for determining the relative positions of multiple points on an object surface including multiple surface materials.
• the method includes: collecting interferometric data related to the relative positions; and calculating the relative positions based on the collected interferometric data and at least one value indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) for each of the surface materials.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the invention features a surface profiling method for determining the relative positions of multiple points on an object surface including multiple surface materials.
• the method includes: collecting interferometric data related to the relative positions; and calculating the relative positions based on the collected interferometric data and at least one value indicative of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) ⁇ t for each of the surface materials.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the invention features a surface profiling method for determining the absolute position with respect to a common datum surface of each of multiple points on an object surface.
• the method includes: collecting interferometric data related to the absolute positions; and calculating the absolute positions based on the collected interferometric data and at least one value indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the object surface and dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the invention features a surface profiling method for determining the absolute position with respect to a common datum surface of each of multiple points on an object surface.
• the method includes: collecting interferometric data related to the absolute positions; and calculating the absolute positions based on the collected interferometric data and at least one value indicative of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the object surface ⁇ H and the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data ⁇ ija .
• the invention features a surface profiling method including: collecting interferometric data related to a surface profile of a measurement object; and calculating the surface profile based on the collected interferometric data and at least one value indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• Embodiments of this aspect of the invention can include any of the following features.
• the calculation of the surface profile can be based on the collected interferometric data and multiple values indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of different regions of the profiled surface of the measurement object.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the calculation of the surface profile can be based on the collected interferometric data and at least one value indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object and dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the collection of interferometric data can include collecting scanning interferometric data related to the surface profile of the measurement object.
• the collected interferometric data can include at least one phase value ⁇ (k) at a wavevector k for each of multiple points on the profiled surface, and wherein the calculation of the surface profile is based on the relationship
• ⁇ k 2nk(h ⁇ ) + (r part + ⁇ sys ) + ( ⁇ part + ⁇ sys ) ⁇ k - k_)
• ⁇ part is the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface at the wavevector k
• ⁇ sys is the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data at the wavevector k
• ⁇ part is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface with respect to a reference wavevector k
• ⁇ is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection
• PCOR PCOR of the interferometry system with respect to wavevector ko.
• the collected interferometric data can include multiple phase values ⁇ (k) corresponding to multiple wavevector values k for each of multiple points on the profiled surface, and wherein the calculation of the surface profile is based on the relationship
• h is the surface height
• ⁇ is a reference offset position
• n is a refractive index
• ⁇ is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface with respect to a reference wavevector ko
• ⁇ is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data with respect to the reference wavevector ko.
• the interferometric data can be scanning interferometric data including multiple phase values ⁇ ( ⁇ ) corresponding to multiple positions ⁇ of a scanning reference mirror for each of multiple points on the profiled surface, and the calculation of the surface profile includes transforming the multiple phase values for each point into a wavevector domain, calculating a derivative of the transformed phase values for each point with respect to wavevector, and calculating the surface profile from the derivative for each point and the at least one value indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the at least one value can be indicative of the dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object and the dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of a scanning interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data
• the calculated surface profile provides an absolute position with respect to a common datum surface for each of the multiple points on the profiled surface
• he interferometric data includes coherence profiling data and phase profiling data
• the calculation of the surface profile includes using the coherence profiling data and the at least one value indicative of the dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) to determine an initial estimate of the surface profile, and using the initial estimate to resolve fringe ambiguity in the phase profiling data.
• the at least one value can be ⁇ part + ⁇ sys , where ⁇ paH is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface with respect to a reference wavevector ko, and ⁇ sys is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data with respect to the reference wavevector £ 0 .
• ⁇ paH is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface with respect to a reference wavevector ko
• ⁇ sys is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data with respect to the reference wavevector £ 0 .
• the at least one value can include ⁇ pan and ⁇ sys , where ⁇ part is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface with respect to a reference wavevector ko, and ⁇ is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of an interferometry system used to collect the interferometric data with respect to the reference wavevector Ar 0 .
• the at least one value can further include ⁇ pm and / , where ⁇ pa ⁇ is the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface at a particular wavevector k, and ⁇ is the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the interferometry system at the wavevector k.
• the at least one value can include a first value indicative of the dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface and a second value indicative of a phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface for a particular wavevector k.
• the calculated surface profile can provide an absolute position with respect to a common datum surface of each of multiple points on the profiled surface.
• the collected interferometric data can include coherence profiling intensity data as a function of a reference mirror scan position ⁇ , wherein the calculation of the surface profile is based on the relationship
• h is the surface height
• ⁇ ms ⁇ is the reference scan position where the intensity data is maximized
• n is a refractive index
• ⁇ part is the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface with respect to a reference wavevector ko
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the invention features a surface profiling system including: an interferometry system which during operation provides interferometric data related to a surface profile of a measurement object; and an electronic processor coupled the interferometry system, wherein during operation the electronic processor calculates the surface profile based on the interferometric data and at least one parameter indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object.
• a surface profiling system including: an interferometry system which during operation provides interferometric data related to a surface profile of a measurement object; and an electronic processor coupled the interferometry system, wherein during operation the electronic processor calculates the surface profile based on the interferometric data and at least one parameter indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the at least one parameter can be indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the profiled surface of the measurement object and dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the interferometry system, and wherein the surface profile calculated by the electronic processor includes an absolute position with respect to a common datum surface of each of multiple points on the profiled surface.
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• PCOR phase change on reflection
• the electronic processor can calculate the surface profile based on the interferometric data and parameters indicative of dispersion in the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of different surface materials of the profiled surface.
• the interferometry system includes: a broadband source; a scanning interferometer which during operation directs a first wavefront derived from the source along a reference path and a second wavefront derived from the source along a measurement path contacting the measurement object, and, after the second wavefront contacts the measurement object, combines the wavefronts to produce an optical interference pattern; a detector producing the interference data in response to the optical interference pattern; and a scanning controller coupled to the interferometer and the detector, which during operation causes the scanning interferometer to vary the optical path difference between the reference and measurement paths.
• the invention features a method for calibrating an interferometry system to determine at least one of the phase change on reflection
• the calibration method includes: collecting interferometric data relating to a test surface using the interferometry system; providing independent information for the profile h of the test surface, the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the test surface ⁇ H , and the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the test surface ⁇ paH with respect to a reference wavevector ko; and calculating the at least one of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the interferometry system ⁇ and the linear dispersion of the phase change of reflection
• PCOR PCOR of the interferometry system ⁇ based on the interferometric data and the independent information.
• Embodiments of this aspect of the invention can include any of the following features.
• the collected interferometric data includes at least one phase value ⁇ (k) at a wavevector k for each of multiple points on the test surface, and wherein the calculation of the surface profile is based on the relationship
• ⁇ k 2nk ⁇ h - ⁇ ) + [ ⁇ pan + ⁇ iyi ) + (1 pmt + ⁇ sys)[k ⁇ )
• ⁇ is a reference offset position and n is a refractive index.
• the at least one of iys and ⁇ yi can include ⁇ .
• the at least one of ⁇ and ⁇ iys can include ⁇ y .
• the at least one of ⁇ iyi and ⁇ syi can include ⁇ and ⁇
• the interferometric data can provide an experimentally observed phase gap G ex
• the invention features a method for measuring at least one of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of test material ⁇ t and linear dispersion of the phase change of reflection (PCOR) of the test material ⁇ t with respect to a reference wavevector &o-
• the method includes: collecting interferometric data relating to a test surface using an interferometry system; providing independent information for the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the interferometry system ⁇ and the linear dispersion of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the interferometry system ⁇ with respect to a reference wavevector k ; and calculating the at least one of the phase change on reflection (PCOR) of the test material and the linear dispersion of the phase change of reflection (PCOR) of the test material ⁇ part based on the interferometric data and the independent information.
• the at least one of ⁇ pan and ⁇ pa ⁇ includes ⁇ part
• the interferometric data provides an experimentally observed phase gap G ex ,
• ⁇ part [( ⁇ p ⁇ t + ⁇ syi - G a ) f ⁇ sys .
• Figure 1 is a schematic drawing of a height measuring interferometer.
• Figure 2 is a graph illustrating interferometric coherence profiling data and the effects of PCOR and PCOR dispersion.
• Figure 3 is a graph of interferometric phase as a function of wave number to illustrate to the effects of PCOR and PCOR dispersion.
• Figure 4 is a schematic drawing of a system calibration for the height scanning interferometer.
• Figure 5 is a schematic drawing of a system initialization for the height scanning interferometer.
• Figure 6 is a flow chart summarizing system characterization and initialization and part characterization and measurement.
• Interferometer 100 includes a broadband light source 110, interferometer optics such as a beam splitter 120 for defining a reference path to a reference mirror 130 and a measurement path to a surface 140 of an object part 150, and a camera 160 for recording interferometric images resulting from recombining the wavef ⁇ onts from the reference and measurement legs.
• Interferometer 100 also includes a mechanism 180 for modifying or scanning the optical paths in a controlled way such as a piezoelectric transducer coupled to reference mirror 130, and a data processor 190 coupled to camera 160 and the scanning mechanism for analyzing the interferometric data recorded by the camera.
• a dispersion compensation element 170 is positioned in the reference path to compensate for the path lengths for dispersion caused by the beam splitter.
• interferometer 100 is arranged to measure a height h in the z coordinate direction at each point x,y on an object part surface using interference phase information.
• the virtual surface His the optical profiler datum to which all height and interference phase measurements are referenced.
• ⁇ (k) 2nk (h - ⁇ ) + [ ⁇ part + sys ) + ( ⁇ part + ⁇ sys )(k - k 0 ), (1)
• k_ is the nominal wavenumber
• ⁇ is the reference mirror scan position
• ⁇ a is the reference mirror scan position
• PCOR part surface phase change on reflection
• the value ⁇ sys includes
• phase offsets ⁇ part and ⁇ sys correspond to the phase offsets ⁇ part and ⁇ sys , respectively.
• ⁇ part X sys are evaluated at the nominal wavenumber k_ .
• the index of refraction n for air and is assumed to be independent of wavenumber.
• All of the terms in Eq. 9, are potentially a function of field position x,y, although for the subsequent description, the variables n, ⁇ , k 0 are assumed to be constant over the field of view.
• scanning interferometric measurements In scanning interferometric measurements, light source 110 provides broadband radiation so that interference fringes are only produced when the optical path difference (OPD) between the reference and measurement legs are within the coherence length of the broadband radiation.
• OPD optical path difference
• scanning interferometric measurements can be considered a "coherence profiling" mode in that it uses the broadband nature of the interference effect, e.g., the localization of fringe contrast or equivalently, the measurement of the rate of change of interference phase with wavenumber.
• Figure 2 shows an example of a coherence profiling intensity signal as the reference mirror position ⁇ is scanned. According to Eq. 1, the overlapping interference fringes for the various emissions of the broadband source result in a normalized intensity /given by
• This is the stationary phase position, where the interference phase is the same independent of wave number, and all of the interference patterns add up constructively. More generally, it can be shown that the stationary phase condition d ⁇ /dk 0 corresponds to the centroid of the fringe contrast envelope V.
• phase ⁇ _ is the phase at the nominal wavenumber k Q
• the system determines the fringe-contrast envelope Fas a function of ⁇ , e.g., by electronic or digital conversion, for every camera pixel. It then determines the scan position ⁇ ms ⁇ for which the envelope F reaches a specific value, e.g., its maximum or peak value.
• the corresponding height h is this scan position minus the dispersion offset:
• the coherence profiling intensity signal is Fourier transformed with respect to the scan position ⁇ into the frequency domain (i.e. with respect to frequency wave number k).
• the phase of the transformed data corresponds directly to the phase ⁇ (k) in Eq. 1.
• the signal processor calculates the phase derivative d ⁇ /dk , and determines height h for each camera pixel according to:
• surface height measurements can also be based on interferometric phase profiling data where the interferometric phase ⁇ (k) is measured directly for one or more wavenumbers k.
• phase shifting interferometry (PSI) techniques can be used for such measurements. From Eq. 1, it is clear that if direct interferometric phase measurements are used to determine height h, accounting for PCOR ⁇ part and ⁇ sys (and PCOR dispersion ⁇ part and ⁇ sys for wave numbers other than the nominal wave number ko) improves the accuracy of the height measurement.
• the sensitivities to particular noise sources for coherence profiling measurements differ from those for phase profiling measurements, thus a particular technique may be preferable for a particular application, or they may be used to complement one another.
• One drawback of many phase profiling measurements is the measured phase ⁇ (k) includes 27C fringe ambiguity.
• relative fringe ambiguity over the surface may be interpolated from the data of multiple camera pixels using standard fringe unwrapping procedures.
• the coherence profiling height measurement can be used alone, or it can be used to remove the absolute fringe ambiguity from the phase profiling measurement, which may be more accurate than the coherence measurement in some cases.
• Eq. 7 can be applied independently to every point x,y on the part surface. Again, as is apparent from Eq. 7, accounting for PCOR ⁇ part and ⁇ sys improves the accuracy of the absolute phase profiling measurement. Moreover, Eq. 7 implicitly depends on PCOR dispersion values ⁇ part and ⁇ sys through the coherence profiling determination of h.
• Figure 3 shows graphically how the frequency transformed coherence profiling data ⁇ (k) removes fringe ambiguity from a phase profiling measurement. The line d ⁇ /dk showing the rate of change of phase is evaluated by taking a few phase data points about ⁇ 0 .
• the line removes the fringe-order ambiguity, provided we know the phase-axis intercept point G for the line according to Eq. 3.
• the gap G is the phase-axis intercept point, i.e., the phase at zero wavenumber.
• values for PCOR and PCOR dispersion are determined for the system and the part.
• the procedure that establishes ⁇ sys , ⁇ sys is a system characterization. System characterization also establishes implicitly the location and shape of the optical profiler datum H.
• System characterization involves a characterization artifact having known optical properties ⁇ art X art and surface form h art .
• the artifact 410 is inserted temporarily in the field of view of interferometer 100 and a measurement of the , -dependent phase profile ⁇ 0 of the artifact surface 411 provides the necessary information for determining the system phase offset ⁇ sys :
• phase profile ⁇ 0 must be unwrapped, meaning that 2 ⁇ fringe jumps must be removed under the assumption that the artifact is a continuous surface.
• n and k_ are expected to have an x,y field dependence related to optical distortions such as chromatic and spherical aberrations.
• x,y field dependence related to optical distortions such as chromatic and spherical aberrations.
• tip and tilt of the part may also be recorded and used in the remaining calculations in much the same way as the x,y field dependence.
• Adjusting the tip, tilt and piston of the system parameters is equivalent to adjusting the tip, tilt and piston of the optical profiler datum H.
• ⁇ sys ⁇ _ (flat dielectric artifact) and ⁇ - G ex (dielectric artifact).
• the former expression defines the location and shape of the optical datum Hto be identical to the location and surface shape of the dielectric artifact itself.
• the artifact If the artifact is sufficiently transparent, it can remain in the measurement path as a permanent part of the system.
• the reference mirror scans to a position for which the partial surface reflection of the transparent artifact generates interference.
• the reference mirror is scanned to a position for wliich the interference effects from the transparent artifact have nearly zero contrast. In this case, care must be taken to accommodate the difference between the phase change on reflection and on the phase change on transmission for the characterization surface.
• Part PCOR values ⁇ paH can be calculated from well-established physics principles governing reflection from an interface (e.g., the Fresnal equations) and tabulated values for the complex refractive index n + ⁇ k of the part material.
• the part PCOR dispersion value ⁇ part can be determined in a manner similar to the system characterization using the experimentally observed phase gap G ex and known values for
• ⁇ part l2n For most pure materials, we expect the height offset ⁇ part l2n to be of the same order of magnitude as ⁇ part j2nk_ and to have the same sign.
• An alternative method for determining ⁇ part is to calculate the dispersion of calculated PCOR values using tabulated values of n + ⁇ k as a function of wavelength.
• Table 1 provides several examples of height offsets related to the optical properties of part materials, calculate in part from tabulated n + ik data found in the Handbook of Optical Constants of Solids, E. D. Palik, Ed. (Academic Press, Inc., Orlando, 1985).
• the height offsets ⁇ part l2nand can be even more significant for objects coated with thin films, as is shown in Table 2. These examples illustrate the importance of incorporating the optical properties of the object material when calculating surface profile, orientation and position with respect to a fixed datum.
• Table 1 Example optical properties of object part materials at a wavelength of 0.5 microns.
• Table 2 Example optical properties of thin-film aluminum oxide on aluminum at a wavelength of 0.5 microns.
• interferometer 100 determines only the relative profile of the part surface, and not also the position and orientation of the part surface. According to the coherence profiling results of Eqs. (5) and (6), however, variations in the materials comprising the test surface will cause local variations in ⁇ part and therefore variations in the calculated height h. Thus, even if ⁇ svs can be assumed to be constant over the field of view (FOV), accurate measurements of relative surface profile still need to account for ⁇ part . This provides accurate measurements in coherence profiling mode, even when the PCOR dispersion of the part surface varies from location to location. Of course, Eqs.
• (5) and (6) can also be used when ⁇ sys is not constant over the field of view (FOV) to improve relative height measurements.
• the accuracy of relative phase profiling measurements can be improved by taking into account local variations in ⁇ part and ⁇ sys in Eq. (7), and local variations in ⁇ part and ⁇ sys when determining fringe order from the coherence profiling result for local surface height h.
• embodiments of the invention accommodate dissimilar materials in coherence and phase profiling modes, even when the optical properties of the part surface, including the PCOR dispersion, varies from location to location.
• the invention extends height-scanning interferometry to those metrology problems for which the absolute position and orientation of the surface is as important as the surface texture and profile.
• the height results are referenced to a datum H.
• This datum may be a plane or have any other useful structure.
• all of the dominant optical properties of the system and of the object part are characterized so that the resulting height measurements all refer to the same datum H.
• the system characterization effectively establishes an internal, virtual optical profiler datum Hto which all the measurements are referenced.
• Hin space may drift in angle and position over time, for example as a consequence of thermal expansion and contraction of the various optical and mechanical components that make up the apparatus. It is therefore useful to have a procedure for determining the current position and orientation of H with respect to specific locations in space.
• the process of measuring the location and orientation of the optical datum H with respect to mechanical reference points in space is referred to herein as initialization.
• the purpose of the initialization therefore is to monitor the location of the profiler datum H with respect to a physical plane in space provided by, e.g., an initialization artifact.
• the datum His assumed to be a plane, although other datum surfaces are possible, including stepped structures, spheres and cylinders.
• the initialization artifact is a dielectric having zero PCOR, zero PCOR dispersion and the identical shape of the optical datum plane H. The more general case would involve correction terms similar to those appearing in Eqs. (8) and (9).
• a surface 511 of an initialization artifact 510 is scanned and then the data processor fits a plane to the surface profile and calculates average height D and orientation angles ⁇ , ⁇ for the initialization artifact with respect to the optical datum H. In this way, the location and orientation of the datum His now known with respect to a real object in space.
• the initialization artifact may now be removed, or if it is transparent or only partially obscuring, could remain in the field of view during subsequent measurements.
• h is the height of a point on the part surface with respect to the initialization artifact.
• FIG. 6 is a flow chart summarizing the system ' characterization, system initialization, part characterization, and part measurement steps described above.
• phase profiling another data processing approach that may be more robust for certain types of measurements on continuous surfaces relies on a standard fringe unwrapping procedure for the measured phase ⁇ followed by a global evaluation of the fringe order.
• the data processor estimates the interference phase ⁇ everywhere in the field of view, and then creates an unwrapped or connected height map h" using traditional techniques from phase-shifting interferometry. The fringe order for this unwrapped height map is then
• brackets ( ) denote average over all pixels in a field of view region.
• phase evaluations take place at the nominal wavenumber ko, and that the system and part parameters also are evaluated at the same fixed & 0 .
• the value for ko is selected by identifying the peak or mean wavenumber k for the Fourier spectrum observed in the experimental data during system characterization.
• the data processor can select an optimized value k for the phase-evaluation wavenumber on a pixel by pixel basis, updated every measurement, always selecting the value for which the signal is strongest. For example, for the phase profiling measurements, we can have:
• the light source in the interferometer may be any of: an incandescent source, such as a halogen bulb or metal halide lamp, with or without spectral bandpass filters; a broadband laser diode; a light-emitting diode; a combination of several light sources of the same or different types; an arc lamp; any source in the visible spectral region; any source in the IR spectral region, particularly for viewing rough surfaces & applying phase profiling; any source in the UV spectral region, particularly for enhanced lateral resolution; and any source or combination of sources having a net spectral bandwidth broader than 0.1 % of the mean wavelength.
• an incandescent source such as a halogen bulb or metal halide lamp, with or without spectral bandpass filters
• a broadband laser diode such as a halogen bulb or metal halide lamp, with or without spectral bandpass filters
• a broadband laser diode such as a halogen bulb or metal halide lamp
• the scanning system may be: driven by any of a piezo-electric device, a stepper motor, and a voice coil; implemented opto-mechanically or opto-electronically rather than by pure translation (e.g., by using any of liquid crystals, electro-optic effects, strained fibers, and rotating waveplates); any of a driver with a flexure mount and any driver with a mechanical stage, e.g.
• the interferometer optics may form any of: an interferometric microscope employing, e.g., a Mirau or Michelson objective lens; a Twyman Green system; a Fizeau interferometer employing a filtered or structured source spectrum so as to provide coherence peaks far from zero OPD; a fiber interferometer; and a Mach Zehnder, particularly for profiling transparent media.
• the data analysis may involve any of: frequency domain analysis (FDA); peak- fringe analysis; dynamic filtering to extract the fringe visibility in real time; a least- squares technique to extract fringe visibility and phase at the same time; and fringe visibility analysis followed by phase analysis, potentially including a separate measurement for phase with a modified source spectrum.
• FDA frequency domain analysis
• peak- fringe analysis dynamic filtering to extract the fringe visibility in real time
• a least- squares technique to extract fringe visibility and phase at the same time
• fringe visibility analysis followed by phase analysis potentially including a separate measurement for phase with a modified source spectrum.
• the analysis steps described above can be implemented in computer programs using standard programming techniques. Such programs are designed to execute on programmable computers each comprising an electronic processor, a data storage system (including memory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and least one output device, such as a display or printer.
• the program code is applied to input data (e.g., images from the camera) to perform the functions described herein and generate output information (e.g., surface profiles), which is applied to one or more output devices.
• Each such computer program can be implemented in a high-level procedural or object-oriented programming language, or an assembly or machine language. Furthermore, the language can be a compiled or interpreted language.
• Each such computer program can be stored on a computer readable storage medium (e.g., CD ROM or magnetic diskette) that when read by a computer can cause the processor in the computer to perform the analysis described herein.

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• Length Measuring Devices By Optical Means (AREA)
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• 2001
  • 2001-01-25 JP JP2001586411A patent/JP4597467B2/ja not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-01-25 DE DE10196214T patent/DE10196214B4/de not_active Expired - Lifetime
  • 2001-01-25 AU AU2001241427A patent/AU2001241427A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2001-01-25 WO PCT/US2001/002470 patent/WO2001090685A2/en active Application Filing

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