OPTICAL MEASURING DEVICE

Abstract: An optical measuring device for measuring the thickness or a height of a step of a workpiece (5) comprises a pair of deviation measuring means (16), a pulse generating circuit (17) for producing pulse signals which control the deviation measuring means (16) so that they operate alternately, and signal processing means (17) for adding outputs of the deviation measuring means (16). The deviation measuring means each include an optical position detecting element (8) having a light receiving plane disposed perpendicular to an optical axis having a predetermined angle with respect to an optical axis of a light beam irradiating the workpiece (5), a laser light source (3) for emitting the light beam, and a drive circuit (2) responsive to the pulse signals to control the laser light source (3). The deviation measuring means (16) being controlled so that their optical position detecting elements (8) are irradiated alternately with the light beam and so that the deviation measuring means (16) are operable only when their own laser light source (3) is emitting the light beam.

Description: The present invention relates to a non-contact optical measuring device for measuring thickness or step height of a workpiece. JP-A-10561/81 discloses a conventional non-contact optical measuring device comprising a pair of position measuring means, a pulse generating means for producing pulse signals to control the position measuring means and signal processing means for adding outputs of the position measuring means to calculate the dimension of the workpiece, each position measuring means including an optical position detecting element having a light receiving plane disposed perpendicularly to an optical axis having a predetermined angle with respect to an optical axis of a light beam irradiating the workpiece, a laser light source for emitting the light beam, and a drive circuit responsive to the pulse signal to control the laser light source. According to this invention such an optical measuring device is characterised in that the pulse generating means is arranged to emit pulse signals alternately to one and then the other of the position measuring means, so that their optical position detecting elements are irradiated alternately with the light beam and so that the position measuring means are operable only when their own laser light source is emitting the light beam. An advantage of the present invention is that the optical measuring device is capable of measuring the thickness or the height of a step portion of a workpiece without the two position measuring means influencing one another even if the workpiece is transparent. A particular example of an optical measuring device in accordance with this invention will now be described and contrasted with the prior art with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:- Figure 1 is a block diagram of an example of the present invention; Figure 2 is a graph illustrating the output waveforms of a pulse generator used in the present invention; Figure 3 is a block diagram of a conventional optical measuring device; Figure 4 is a partly sectioned diagrammatic side view of a light receiving element; Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating the measurement of thickness of a workpiece; and, Figure 6 is a diagram illustrating the measurement of a step height of a workpiece. Figure 3 shows a conventional optical measuring device using position measuring means disclosed in, for example, Japanese patent Publication No. 10561/1981 applied to a measurement of thickness of a workpiece. In the same Figure, on both sides of a workpiece 5, a pair of position measuring means 16 are disposed and outputs of the position measuring means 16 are supplied to a signal processing means 17. Each position measuring means 16 includes a pulse generating circuit 1 for determining a driving timing of a semiconductor laser 3 and sampling times of sample-hold circuits 13 and 14 to be described later. A drive circuit 2 drives the semiconductor laser 3 on a basis of pulses generated by the pulse generating circuit 1. A lens 4 condenses light from the semiconductor laser 3 to focus it on the workpiece 5 as a spot 6. A light receiving lens 7 focuses an image of the light spot 6 on the workpiece 5 onto a light receiving element 8 to convert a position of the image of the light spot 6 focussed thereby into an electric signal. Reference numerals 9 and 10 are amplifiers for amplifying electric signals from the light receiving element 8, 11 a subtractor for obtaining a difference between outputs of the amplifiers 9 and 10, 12 an adder for adding the outputs of the amplifiers 9 and 10, 13 and 14 sample-hold circuits for sampling and holding outputs of the subtractor 11 and the adder 12 on the basis of sample timing signals from the pulse generator 1, respectively, and 15 a divider for obtaining a ratio of the outputs of the sample-hold circuits 13 and 14. The signal processing means 17 functions to add a pair of outputs from the position measuring means 16 from which a thickness of the workpiece 5 is calculated. In operation, the semiconductor laser 3 is driven by the drive circuit 2 such that it emits a pulsed beam. Light from the semiconductor laser 3 is condensed by the lens 4 and directed to a surface of the workpiece 5 perpendicularly. Any surface which is not ideal mirror surface scatters an incident light and therefore it is possible to detect a bright light spot at various angles with respect to the incident light. When the lens 7 is disposed on the optical axis which makes a predetermined angle with respect to the irradiating beam to form an image of the light spot on the light receiving plane of the light receiving elements 8, the output currents i1 and i2 of the light receiving element 8 become correspondent to the position of the light spot on the light receiving planes. These outputs are amplified by the amplifiers 9 and 10 and then signals coresponding to (i1 - i2) and (i1 + i2) are derived therefrom by the subtractor 11 and the adder 12 which are supplied to the sample-hold circuits 13 and 14, respectively. The latter circuits function to sample the input signals in synchronism with the drive pulse from the pulse generator 1 and the received light signal in the form of pulse is converted into d.c. signals. The calculation of (i1 - i2)/(i1 + i2) is performed by the divider 15 to obtain a signal proportional to the position of the light spot formed on the light receiving plane of the light receiving element 8, from which a position of the workpiece can be known. In more detail, in Fig. 4 which shows the light receiving element 8 in Fig. 3 in detail, the light receiving element 8 includes a frame 31, an N type semiconductor 32 disposed in the frame 31, a P type semiconductor 33 formed on a surface of the N type semiconductor 32, an electrode 34 attached to the N type semiconductor 32, a first electrode 35 attached to the P type semiconductor 33, a second electrode 36 attached to the P type semiconductor 33, a power source 37, a first resister as a load 38 and a second resistor as a load 39. 40 depicts an incident light reflected from the light spot 6 focussed by the light receiving lens 7 (cf. Fig. 3) and 41 is an intensity distribution P(x) of the incident light 40. It is usual that a resistance of the P type semiconductor 33 on the surface of the N type semiconductor 32 is relatively large and uniform. When the incident light 40 has an intensity distribution P(x) with respect to a distance x from a center of the light receiving element 8, currents i1 and i2 flowing through the small resisters 38, 39 can be approximated by the following equations (1) and (2). i1 - i2 = K1 ∫ ℓ / -ℓ P(x) · xdx (1) i1 + i2 = K2 ∫ ℓ / -ℓ P(x) dx (2) where K1, K2 are constants and ℓ is a distance from the center of the light receiving element 8 to an end thereof. Therefore, by calculating a ratio of (i1 - i2) to (i1 + i2), it is possible to obtain a position of the center of incident light on the light receiving element 8. For example, when it is assumed that the resistance value of the P type semiconductor 33 is large, that resistance values of the N type semiconductor 32 and the resisters 38 and 39 are negligible compared with the resistance value of the P type semiconductor 33, respectively, and that the light spot can be considered as a point, the following equations are established: r(ℓ - x) i1 = E (3) r(ℓ - x) i2 = E (4) where r is a resistance value per unit distance of the P type semiconductor in ℓ direction. From the equations (3) and (4), the following equation is obtained: (i1 + i2)x = ℓ(i1 - i2) x = ℓ(i1 - i2)/(i1 + i2) (5) When the outputs of the pair of position measuring means 16 obtained in this manner are represented by ℓ1 and ℓ2, respectively, and an initially set reference value is represented by K, the thickness T is calculated by the signal processing means 17 according to the following equation. K - (ℓ1 + ℓ2) = T (6) Incidentally, when the relation between ℓ1 and ℓ2 is as shown in Fig. 6, a step height T is calculated by the following equation (ℓ1 - ℓ2) = T (7) Since the conventional optical measuring device is constituted as above, when a workpiece to be measured is semitransparent, an irradiating light from one of the position measuring means passes partially through the workpiece or a reflection light from the workpiece falls in a light receiving element of the other deviation measuring means. Therefore, an error may be introduced into a measured value of thickness or step height. An embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to Fig. 1, in which components depicted by reference numerals 2 to 17 are the same as those of the conventional device shown in Fig. 3 and, so, details thereof are omitted. In Fig. 1, a pulse generator 18 is substituted for pulse generators 1 used in the conventional device shown in Fig. 3 for generating pulses having waveforms a and b (Fig. 2) to be supplied to drive circuits 2 and sample-hold circuits 13 and 14, alternatively. An operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to the thickness measurement. In Fig. 1, the pulse generator 18 supplies, to a pair of the drive circuits 2, pulses having ON period alternatively. The drive circuits 2 respond thereto to drive light sources 3 such that light from the light source 3 associated with one of the drive circuits 2 has the waveform a and that from the other light source 3 has the waeform b. The sample-hold circuits 13 and 14 sample the signals according to the respective drive pulses and convert them into d.c. components. That is, the sample-hold circuits 13 and 14 of one of the position measuring means 16 perform the sample-hold operation at a time instance t1 and the sample-hold circuits 13 and 14 of the other position measuring means 16 perform the sample-hold operation at a time instance t2. The d.c. signals obtained in this manner contain only light components of irradiating light of its own system. Therefore, it is not influenced by irradiating light in the other system even if the workpiece has a transparency to light. In a case of the step height measurement in which both of the position measuring means 16 are disposed in one side of the workpiece 5, light beams from the deviation measuring means 16 are made alternative and, as in the thickness measurement, one of the position measuring means 16 which is emitting light beam obtains a deviation by using signals received thereby within a time for which it emits the light beam. Therefore, it is not influenced by reflection light of light beam emitted by the other position measuring means 16. As mentioned above, according to the present invention, it is possible to improve the accuracy of thickness since the measuring in one position measuring means is not influenced by light beam emitted by the other even if light beams are directed to a transparent workpiece from opposite sides thereof. Further, it is possible to improve the accuracy of step height measurement since the measuring in one position measuring means is not influenced by light beam emitted by the other even if both of the position measuring means are disposed in the same side of the workpiece.

Claims: An optical measuring device for measuring a dimension of a workpiece (5) to be measured comprising a pair of position measuring means (16), a pulse generating means (18) for producing pulse signals to control the position measuring means (16) and signal processing means (17) for adding outputs of the position measuring means to calculate the dimension of the workpiece (5), each position measuring means (16) including an optical position detecting element (8) having a light receiving plane disposed perpendicularly to an optical axis having a predetermined angle with respect to an optical axis of a light beam irradiating the workpiece (5), a laser light source (3) for emitting the light beam, and a drive circuit (2) responsive to the pulse signal to control the laser light source (3), characterised in that the pulse generating means (18) is arranged to emit pulse signals alternately to one and then the other of the position measuring means (16), so that their optical position detecting elements (8) are irradiated alternately with the light beam and so that the position measuring means (16) are operable only when their own laser light source (3) is emitting the light beam. An optical measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the dimension to be measured is the thickness of the workpiece (5), wherein the position measuring means (16) are disposed sides on opposite of the workpiece (5), and wherein the optical position detecting elements (8) are irradiated with light scattered from opposite sides of the workpiece (5). An optical measuring device according to claim 1, wherein the dimension to be measured is the height of a step portion formed in one side of the workpiece (5) wherein the position measuring means (16) are both disposed on the same side of the workpiece (5) and wherein the optical position detecting elements (8) are irradiated with light scattered from the different height step portions on the same side of the workpiece (5).

Inventors: NAGAO, TOSHISHIGE C/O MITSUBISHI DENKI K.K.
Applicants: MITSUBISHI DENKI KABUSHIKI KAISHA
Application year: 1988
Main classification: G01B11
IPC codes: G01C3, G01B11