Inspection method and inspection apparatus for performing the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12298256-B2
Application number	US-202218071749-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 30, 2022
Priority date	Dec 16, 2021
Publication date	May 13, 2025
Grant date	May 13, 2025

Abstract

An inspection method includes irradiating a laser to an inspection target, reflecting a first emitted laser from a transmission layer included in the inspection target, reflecting a second emitted laser from a scattering layer included in the inspection target, detecting a reference image from the second emitted laser; and measuring a separation distance obtained from the first emitted laser, based on the reference image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An inspection method comprising:
irradiating a laser to an inspection target;
reflecting a first emitted laser from a transmission layer included in the inspection target;
reflecting a second emitted laser from a scattering layer included in the inspection target;
detecting a reference image from the second emitted laser; and
measuring a separation distance obtained from the first emitted laser based on the reference image.

2. The inspection method of claim 1 , wherein the irradiating of the laser includes irradiating the laser to have an angle with respect to the inspection target.

3. The inspection method of claim 1 , wherein the first emitted laser and the second emitted laser do not intersect each other.

4. The inspection method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining an image stream from the first emitted laser and the second emitted laser.

5. The inspection method of claim 4 , further comprising:
detecting the reference image having a uniform pattern in the image stream.

6. The inspection method of claim 1 , wherein the measuring of the separation distance includes measuring the separation distance based on an angle and between the laser and the inspection target and a vertical thickness of the transmission layer.

7. The inspection method of claim 1 , further comprising:
obtaining a sub-image by reflecting the separation distance in an image obtained from the first emitted laser.

8. The inspection method of claim 7 , further comprising:
merging the sub-image obtained by reflecting the separation distance with the image obtained from the first emitted laser.

9. An inspection apparatus comprising:
a laser generator that irradiates a laser to an inspection target;
an imaging part on which a first emitted laser and a second emitted laser are incident; and
a controller that measures a separation distance obtained from the first emitted laser, based on a reference image obtained from the second emitted laser, wherein
the first emitted laser is a laser reflected from a transmission layer included in the inspection target, and
the second emitted laser is a laser reflected from a scattering layer included in the inspection target.

10. The inspection apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the laser is irradiated to have an angle with respect to the inspection target.

11. The inspection apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the first emitted laser and the second emitted laser do not intersect each other.

12. The inspection apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller includes:
an image stream obtaining part that obtains an image stream from the first emitted laser and the second emitted laser.

13. The inspection apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the controller further includes a reference image detector that detects the reference image having a uniform pattern in the image stream.

14. The inspection apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller includes a separation distance measuring part that measures the separation distance based on an angle between the laser and the inspection target and a vertical thickness of the transmission layer.

15. The inspection apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the controller includes a sub-image obtaining part that obtains a sub-image by reflecting the separation distance in an image obtained from the first emitted laser.

16. The inspection apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the controller further includes an image merging part that merges the sub-image obtained by reflecting the separation distance in the image obtained from the first emitted laser.

17. The inspection apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the first and second emitted lasers reflected from the inspection target inclined with respect to the imaging part are incident on the imaging part.

18. The inspection apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the separation distance is measured by the following equation:

x
=

h

tan
⁡
(
a
)

wherein x is the separation distance, h is the vertical thickness of the transmission layer, and a is the angle between the laser and the inspection target substrate.

19. The inspection method of claim 6 , wherein the separation distance is measured by the following equation:

x
=

h

tan
⁡
(
a
)

wherein x is the separation distance, h is the vertical thickness of the transmission layer, and a is the angle between the laser and the inspection target substrate.

Assignees

• Samsung Display Co Ltd

Inventors

• Voronov Alexander
• Ahn Jooseob
• Guak Hyeonsuk
• Kim Kihun
• Ryu Jekil
• Ahn Hyeongmin

Classifications

• G06T7/55

  from multiple images · CPC title

• G06T2207/20221

  Image fusion; Image merging · CPC title

• G01N2021/9513

  Liquid crystal panels · CPC title

• G06T2207/10016

  Video; Image sequence · CPC title

• G06T7/521

  from laser ranging, e.g. using interferometry; from the projection of structured light · CPC title