• 专利附录
  • 专利说明
  • 权利要求
  • 类似技术
  • 同族专利
  • 引用文献
  • 法律状态
  • 优先权
    • 专利摘要:
    The observation apparatus of the present invention includes a light emitting unit for irradiating light to an observation target, an image detecting unit for receiving reflected light or transmitted light from the observation target, a light emission time setting unit for setting an emission time of the light emitting unit, and a vertical synchronization signal of the image detection unit. And light emission control means for causing the light emission portion to emit light in synchronization with the light emitting portion and stopping light emission from the light emission portion after the elapse of the set light emission time.
    公开号:KR19990068225A
    申请号:KR1019990003003
    申请日:1999-01-29
    公开日:1999-08-25
    发明作者:구로까와슈지；고바야시겐지
    申请人:쇼지 고메이；린텍 가부시키가이샤；
    IPC主号:
    专利说明:

    OBSERVATION APPARATUS AND METHOD OF CONTROLLING LIGHT EMISSION THEREOF
    BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an observation device, and more particularly, to an observation device for observing a pattern such as a circuit and a character formed on or near a surface of an insulator substrate such as a semiconductor wafer and glass, ceramic, or the like.
    Conventionally, during the manufacturing process of a semiconductor integrated circuit, patterns such as numbers, letters, and circuits provided on the surface of a semiconductor wafer (hereinafter abbreviated as "wafer"), a liquid crystal substrate, glass, ceramic, or resin are used as an image detector such as a camera or the like. Observed using. For example, during a manufacturing process, an identification code provided on a wafer is read, and then a process selected according to the identification code is performed.
    In the conventional observation apparatus, the light emission intensity of a light source is changed to adjust the light reception amount of an image detector (for example, a camera), and the current value or the voltage value of the drive current of the light emitter is changed to change the light emission intensity of the light source.
    That is, in such a prior art observation apparatus, a variable current drive circuit or a variable voltage drive circuit is required as a drive circuit for driving a light emitting portion. As a result, the driving circuit of the light emitting portion is relatively complicated, and the overall size is increased as the number of light emitting bodies capable of individually emitting light increases.
    In order to overcome the above-mentioned problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide an observation apparatus having a simplified drive circuit for driving a light emitter.
    In order to achieve the above object, the observation device of the present invention includes a light emitting unit for irradiating light to an observation target, an image detecting unit for receiving reflected light or transmitted light from the observation target, and a light emission time setting unit for setting an emission time of the light emitting unit. And light emission control means for causing the light emitting portion to emit light in synchronization with the vertical synchronizing signal of the image detecting means, and stopping light emission from the light emitting portion after the elapse of the set light emitting time.
    It is also possible to use the horizontal synchronizing signal of the image detection means as the timekeeping means for counting the light emission time.
    1 is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the invention.
    FIG. 2 shows the main part of the optical system of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1. FIG.
    3 is a block diagram showing the structure of a driver of a light-emitting body.
    4 is a block diagram showing another structure of the driver of the light emitter.
    5 is a timing chart illustrating an illumination operation of an observation device.
    <Explanation of symbols for main parts of drawing>
    1: Observation device
    7: camera
    35: light emitting controller
    36: driver
    40: group control unit
    1 is a structural diagram showing an overall structure of an observation apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a main part of an optical system.
    As shown in the figure, the observation device 1 is used for observing an observation object 3a, such as a character or a pattern formed on the wafer 3. Each component part of this observing apparatus 1 is built in the box 5, CCD camera 7, the half mirror 9, and the condensing lens 11 which are image detection means from the upper side of the box 5 downward. ) Is arranged. In this arrangement, the condenser lens 11 forms the lens for condensing the light emitted from the light emitting portion 13 and the image of the observation object 3a on the light receiving portion 7a when the image of the observation object 3a and the light receiving portion 7a are formed. It functions as an objective lens disposed between the lens. The light emitting part 13 is disposed at the full focus point of the condenser lens 11, and the light from the light emitting part 13 is reflected downward by the half mirror 9 and is collected by the condenser lens 11 to be observed. It is investigated in (3a). The condensing lens 11 also has an optical axis 11b passing through the half mirror 9 and an optical axis 11a due to reflection by the half mirror 9.
    The camera 7 has a diaphragm 15 and an imaging lens 17, and the reflected light from the observation target 3a passes through the half mirror 9, the imaging lens 17 and the diaphragm 15 in this order. Then, an image is formed on the light receiving portion 7a (CCD element or the like) of the camera 7. In addition, another diaphragm (diaphragm 16 shown in FIG. 2) may be provided between the imaging lens 17 and the half mirror 9.
    The light emitter 13 includes a plurality of light emitters (for example, LEDs) 13a, and a diffuser 33 is disposed in front of all the light emitters 13a. Each light emitter 13a is selectively driven by the light emission controller 35 (to be described later). In addition, the light emitter 19 is provided below the observing apparatus 1 to irradiate light of a large incident angle to the observation target 3a, and the diffuser 25 is disposed in front of the light emitter 19.
    The light emitting portion 13 and the light emitting body 19 are controlled by the light emitting controller 35. The light emission controller 35 includes a driver 36 and a group controller 40, which controls the ON / OFF state and the light emission time of each light emitter. The group controller 40 separates the light emitter 13a and the light emitter 19 of the light emitter 13 into groups and specifies which group of light emitters to use for light emission according to the observation target 3a. The light emission controller 35 is controlled by a control device (e.g., computer) 37 having a system such as an OCR system or a pattern irradiation system. In addition, the image signals 38 from the camera 7 are output to the monitor 39 (functioning as display means) and the control device 37, and are processed by the control device 37 for image recognition.
    As shown in Fig. 3, the driver includes driving circuits 41a, 41b, 41c, ..., 41n for driving the light emitters a, b, c, ..., n, respectively; Light emission control units 43a, 43b, 43c, ..., 43n for controlling the driving circuits 41a, 41b, 41c, ..., 41n, respectively; A clock signal generator 45 for transmitting a clock signal to each of the light emission controllers 43a, 43b, 43c, ..., 43n; And a V D processing section 46 for delaying the vertical synchronizing signal V D of the camera 7 by a predetermined period T. In this regard, the vertical synchronizing signal V D is usually used as a basic signal for camera operation, and in this way the vertical synchronizing signal V D forms a reference signal (described later) or an image output signal for possible light reception time.
    Each light emission control unit 43 includes a preset unit P for storing an initial value showing one light emission time as a clock signal amount, and a counter N for inputting an initial value and subtracting 1 each time a clock signal is received.
    The V D processing unit 46 receives a T value from the preset unit Q and a preset unit Q which store a predetermined period T in which each light emitter emits light from the time when the V D signal is generated, and subtracts the T value from the preset unit Q. And a flag register F (hereinafter abbreviated as "flag F") which enters the ON state when the value of the subtraction coefficient part C becomes zero. In addition, the selected period T is set in the preset unit Q in accordance with a signal from the group control unit 40.
    The ON signal of the flag F of the V D processing unit 46 is output to each of the light emission control units 43a, 43b, 43c, ..., 43n. From the group control unit 40, control signals, light emitting selection signals, and light emission stop signals, such as the initial values described above, are output to the respective light emission control units 43a, 43b, 43c, ..., 43n. Further, the light emitters a, b, c, ..., n form the light emitters 13a and 19 of FIG.
    As will be described later, since the clock signal is used as a time unit for performing the time-keeping of the light emitting time within the V D signal period, the time control becomes more precise as the period of the clock signal becomes shorter than the period of the V D signal. do. Further, the clock signal generating unit 45, if that can be used is a horizontal synchronizing signal H D is a H D signal is distributed is input as a clock signal to the light emission control section 43, which creates a circuit structure simplification . When the camera 7 is an NTSC standard camera, the H D signal is generated about 280 times during the period of the V D signal 1, and the observation device of the present invention can precisely control the emission intensity to about 1/280. . When the camera 7 is a PAL standard or an HDTV standard, precise control can be performed in multiple steps. When the H D signal is not used, the signal is self-induced and distributed to each of the light emission control units 43 as a clock signal. It is also possible to divide the H D signal to form a clock signal with a shorter duration.
    Next, operation | movement of the observation apparatus 1 is demonstrated with reference to FIG.
    In other words, when an observation device is used as a reading device for reading letters or symbols formed on the wafer, the observation device 1 of the present invention must be disposed at an appropriate position as the first step of the semiconductor manufacturing process. Then, the wafer is manually or automatically moved to the position where the observation object 3a is disposed directly below the condenser lens 11.
    Next, the camera 7 is generating the signal V D and V D are transmitted to the signal from the counter C is transferred to the V D processing unit 46, a predetermined period of time T is preset Q unit. Then, the clock signal is input from the clock signal generator 45 to the V D processor 46, and then the value of the counter C is subtracted by one each time the clock signal is received. When the value of counter C reaches zero, the flag F is turned ON. In other words, the flag F turns ON after the selected period T has elapsed starting from the input of the V D signal.
    At the same time as the V D signal is generated, the group control unit 40 outputs an initial value to the preset unit P of each light emission control unit 43. The initial value can be freely set for each light emitter by performing an external operation. Next, the light emission control unit 43 transmits the initial values to their respective counter units N. FIG. Then, with reference to the flag F, if the flag F is in the ON state, it is reset to the OFF state, and each light emitting drive circuit 41 is driven so that the light emitting body emits light.
    Next, when the clock signal is input, the value of the counter N of each of the light emission controllers 43 is subtracted by 1, and this process continues each time the clock signal is input until all counters N reach zero. do. During this time, the light emitter with counter N> 0 will be in the light emission ON state, and the light emitter with counter N <0 will be in the non-light OFF state. When all the counters N reach zero, all the illuminators will be in the OFF state.
    That is, the light emission time of the light emitter is calculated by multiplying the initial value by one cycle of the clock signal generation period, and the longer the light emission time is, the larger the amount of light received by the camera 7 is. This light emission time can be set for each light emitter. For example, as shown in Fig. 5 (e), as the light emission time of the light emitter becomes longer in the order of light emitters a, n, c, and b, the camera 7 will receive a larger amount of light received in each of the above orders.
    As described above, after generating the V D signal, the light emitters remain in the non-emission OFF state for a predetermined period T, which can be understood with reference to the example shown in FIG. In Fig. 5, the CCD camera can receive light during the periods X 1 , X 2 , X 3 , ..., but not during Y 1 , Y 2 , ..., because the selected period T This is because the light emitter is set to emit light after the periods Y 1 , Y 2 , ..., (no light reception is possible). At present, the periods Y 1 , Y 2 ,..., Are synchronized with the vertical synchronizing signal V D, and light emission is performed by the illuminant also synchronizing with the vertical synchronizing signal V D (simultaneously or in a fixed relationship).
    In addition, the period Y during which the camera 7 cannot receive light can be ignored (ie, assumed to be close to zero), and the period from the generation of the vertical synchronizing signal V D to the time at which light reception is possible is negligibly short. If possible, as shown in Fig. 4, it is possible to remove the V D processing section 46, and the light emitters 13a and 19 may be configured to emit light when the V D signal is generated.
    When the light emission time of each light emitting body is shorter than one period of the vertical synchronizing signal V D, a vertical synchronizing signal V D will be overlooked. In addition, if the light emission time is set to a value obtained by subtracting a period during which the camera cannot receive light from the V D period, it becomes possible to avoid light emitted from waste during periods in which the camera cannot receive.
    After all the counters N become zero, it is referred to whether a light emission stop signal is input. If the light emission stop signal has been input, the process returns to the start of the operation, and the light emission operation is repeated. Then, the image recognition of the observation object 3a is completed, and the light emission stop signal is output from the control apparatus 37 via the group control part 40, for example.
    When one or more illuminants are selectively driven from the illuminants 13a and 19, the observation object 3a is illuminated, which causes the camera 7 to pick up an image which is subsequently deciphered by letters or symbols by the control device 37. To be able. Which light emitter is driven and how long this drive is to be generated is determined by the initial value output from the group controller 40. If the reading result is error or insufficient, it is possible to continue the emission without outputting the emission stop signal, in which case the observation object 3a can be read back by repeating the illumination under the same emission condition or under the condition that the illuminant or emission time changes. have. After the reading is finished, the light emission stop signal is output from the group control portion 40 to stop the illumination operation. Then, when all the operations are completed, the next wafer 3 is moved to the position and the above operation is started again.
    As described above, instead of changing the light emission intensity of each light emitter to control the amount of light received by the camera, in the observation apparatus according to the present invention, such control is achieved by changing the light emission time of the light emitter. As a result, there is no need for a variable current drive circuit or a variable voltage drive circuit, which has been required in prior art devices, which means that the drive circuit of the observation device of the present invention is a simple fixed voltage circuit, for example an open collector drive of a transistor. Because it can be configured from the present invention, the present invention can constitute a simple drive circuit. In particular, when a large number of light emitters are required, the driving circuit of the observation apparatus according to the present invention can be made much smaller than the apparatus of the prior art.
    In addition, instead of performing continuous light emission conventionally performed, the observation device according to the present invention can perform light emission only when lighting is required to suppress heat generation due to waste of light emission. In this way, the present invention makes it possible to construct an observation apparatus that is economical in terms of energy consumption.
    In addition, in the above-described observing apparatus, by using the half mirror 9 to form the branched light path in which the light sources are arranged, the condenser lens 11 can function as both the condenser lens and the objective lens. However, the present invention is not limited to this structure and can eliminate the half mirror and use individual objective lenses and condenser lenses. However, it is preferable to use the half mirror 9 because the ability of the condenser lens 11 to function as the condenser lens and the objective lens makes it possible to construct a compact observation device. In addition, the observation apparatus according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described optical system where the observation is performed using the reflected light from the observation target, and uses the transmitted light passing through the observation target to which light emission from the light emitter is transmitted. It is possible to provide an observation device using an optical system in which observation is performed.
    In addition, although the light emission control section and the V D processing section have been described as hardware circuits in the above-described embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this structure, and a microcomputer having software for performing functions such as a counting function, a preset function and a comparison function is provided. It is possible to provide. In this way, it becomes possible to simplify the hardware structure of the viewing device.
    Therefore, since the observation apparatus according to the present invention controls the light emission time of the light emitter, the present invention can simplify the structure of the driving circuit of the light emitter. In addition, since light emission is performed only when lighting is required, the present invention provides a driving circuit structure that is capable of suppressing heat generation and is economical in terms of energy consumption.
    权利要求:
    Claims (8)
    [1" claim-type="Currently amended] In the observation device for observing an observation object,
    A light emitting unit emitting light to the observation target;
    Image detection means for receiving reflected light or transmitted light from the observation target;
    Light-emitting time setting means for setting a light-emitting time of the light-emitting portion, and
    Light emission control means for causing the light emitting portion to emit light in synchronization with the vertical synchronizing signal of the image detecting means and stopping light emission from the light emitting portion after elapse of the set light emitting time;
    Observation apparatus comprising a.
    [2" claim-type="Currently amended] The observation device according to claim 1, wherein a horizontal synchronizing signal of said image detection means is used as timekeeping means for time-representing said light emission time.
    [3" claim-type="Currently amended] The light emitting time setting means according to claim 1, further comprising a preset unit for storing an initial value, and a counting unit for performing the subtraction process of inputting the initial value and subtracting the initial value by one each time a clock signal is input. And the light emission control means emits the light emitting portion when the value N of the counter is N> 0 and stops light emission from the light emitting portion when N≤0.
    [4" claim-type="Currently amended] The observation device according to claim 3, wherein the light emitting portion is composed of a plurality of light emitting bodies, and an initial value is set for each light emitting body.
    [5" claim-type="Currently amended] An observation apparatus according to claim 1, wherein said light emission control means comprises delay means for delaying said vertical synchronization signal only by a predetermined period T.
    [6" claim-type="Currently amended] 6. The apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the delay means comprises: a preset unit which stores the selected period T, a subtraction coefficient unit which receives the selected period T from the preset unit and performs a subtraction process on the selected period T, and the subtraction unit; And a flag register for switching to an ON state when the value of the counter becomes zero (0).
    [7" claim-type="Currently amended] The light emitting unit of claim 1, wherein the light emitting unit comprises a plurality of light emitting units, and the light emitting control unit classifies the light emitting unit into a predetermined group, and a driver for controlling an ON / OFF state and a light emitting period of each of the light emitting units. And a group control unit for selecting an appropriate light emitting group according to the observation target.
    [8" claim-type="Currently amended] In the method of observing an observation object using the observing apparatus which irradiates the light from a light emission part to an observation object, and receives the reflected light or the transmitted light from the said observation object with an image detection means,
    Setting a light emission time of the light emitting unit;
    Emitting the light emitting portion in synchronization with a vertical synchronizing signal of the image detecting means; And
    Stopping light emission of the light emitting part after elapse of the set light emission time;
    Observation method comprising a.
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    同族专利:
    公开号 | 公开日
    MY120792A|2005-11-30|
    TW401712B|2000-08-11|
    JPH11219425A|1999-08-10|
    US6697116B1|2004-02-24|
    SG73607A1|2000-06-20|
    EP0933953A1|1999-08-04|
    引用文献:
    公开号 | 申请日 | 公开日 | 申请人 | 专利标题
    法律状态:
    1998-01-30|Priority to JP1998-033823
    1998-01-30|Priority to JP10033823A
    1999-01-29|Application filed by 쇼지 고메이, 린텍 가부시키가이샤
    1999-08-25|Publication of KR19990068225A
    优先权:
    申请号 | 申请日 | 专利标题
    JP1998-033823|1998-01-30|
    JP10033823A|JPH11219425A|1998-01-30|1998-01-30|Observation device and light emission control method therefor|
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