Method for measuring height, non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for measuring height, and height measuring apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9945661-B2
Application number	US-201213617120-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2012
Priority date	Mar 16, 2010
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

There are provided a method for measuring a height by a height measuring apparatus including: obtaining, in advance, a height correction value depending on an inclination angle of a surface of the object as an angle correction data; obtaining, from the height value of each pixel of the imaging device, the inclination angle of the surface of the object which corresponds to each pixel position of the imaging device; obtaining the height correction value, which corresponds to the inclination angle obtained, from the angle correction data; and correcting the height value of the surface of the object, which corresponds to each pixel of the imaging device, by using the height correction value obtained.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for measuring heights of regions of an object by a height measuring apparatus which comprises an imaging device and an imaging optical system for forming an image of the object to an imaging plane of the image device, the method comprising:
scanning of the object relative to the imaging optical system along an optical axis of the imaging optical system;
acquiring height values of a region of the object based on a degree coming into focus acquired from images detected by the imaging device; and
correcting a height value of a part of the region of the object by using a height correction value, the height correction value being selected by a slope angle of the part of the region of the object, the slope angle being obtained from the height values.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein each of the height values corresponds to a pixel of the imaging device.

3. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
obtaining a temporary slope angle of the part of the region of the object based on the height value corresponding to each pixel of the imaging device; and
correcting the height value by the height correction value which is set by the temporary slope angle.

4. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising
calculating the height correction value and the slope angle of the part of the region of the object by performing a convergence calculation based on the height value of each pixel of the imaging device obtained by correcting the height correction value corresponding to the temporary slope angle.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the height correction value is acquired from angle correction data which include a plurality of height correction values, and
wherein the angle correction data include one of height correction values decided based on the slope angle of the part of the region of the object and a position of the pixel of the imaging device.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
producing the angle correction data based on at least an inclination angle and a height value, measured by the height measuring apparatus, of the object
wherein
a height value corresponding to each pixel has been known, and
the height correction value with respect to each pixel is a deviation value from a center value acquired by a least-squares method.

7. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
producing the angle correction data based on at least an inclination angle and a height value, measured by the height measuring apparatus, of the object
wherein
a height value corresponding to each pixel has been known, and
the object used in a case that the height correction value is obtained in advance is a reference plane.

8. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the object used in a case that the height correction value is obtained in advance is a reference sphere, of which a diameter has been known.

9. The method according to claim 2 , further comprising projecting a pattern to the object.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein:
the object has a texture pattern;
a spatial frequency of the texture pattern is different from a spatial frequency of the projection pattern; and
the height correction value is obtained from angle correction data, the angle correction data has a slope angle of the part of the region of the object corresponding to each pixel position of the imaging device and the height correction value obtained from a difference between a measurement result of the height value using the texture pattern and a measurement result of the height value using the projection pattern.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for measuring a height of each region of an object, the program being used for a height measuring apparatus;
wherein the program allows a computer to execute the method for measuring the height according to claim 1 .

12. A height measuring apparatus which is configured to measure an object comprising:
an illumination device configured to illuminate the object or project a projection pattern to the object;
an imaging device displaced on a position where an image of the object can be formed by an imaging optical system;
a scan mechanism configured to scan the object relative to the imaging optical system along an optical axis of the imaging optical system;
a height obtaining mechanism configured to obtain a height value of a region of the object by setting a position at which a degree coming into focus acquired from images detected by the imaging device is maximized as a surface position of the object; and
a computer which is configured to execute the method for measuring the height of the object as defined in claim 1 .

13. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for measuring height of an object, the program being used for controlling a height measuring apparatus by a computer,
wherein the program causes the computer to function as:
an obtaining means for obtaining, a height correction value with respect to an inclination value of a part of a region of the object;
a slope calculation means for obtaining, from height values of an image of the region of the object taken by the imaging device, a slope angle of the part of a region of the object which corresponds to a position of the imaging device; and
a height value correction means for obtaining the height correction value, which is selected by the slope angle, and correcting the height value with the obtained height correction value.

14. A height measuring apparatus which is configured to measure an object comprising:
an illumination device which is configured to illuminate the object or project a projection pattern to the object;
an imaging device displaced on a position where an image of the object can be formed by an imaging optical system;
a scan mechanism which is configured to move the object relative to the imaging optical system along an optical axis of the imaging optical system;
a height obtaining mechanism which is configured to obtain height values of a region of the object by detecting positions at which a degree coming into focus acquired from images detected by the imaging device is maximized at a surface position of the object;
a storage unit which is configured to store a height correction value, with respect to a slope angle of a part of a region of the object;
a slope calculation mechanism which is configured to obtain, from height values of an image of the region of the object taken by the imaging device, the slope angle of the part of the region of the object which corresponds to a position of the imaging device; and
a height correction mechanism which is configured to obtain the height correction value corresponding to the obtained slope angle from the height correction data selected by the slope angle, and to correct the height values with the height correction value.

15. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slope angle of the part of the region of the object is the angle between the optical axis and the normal of the object tangent at the part of the region of the object.

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the slope angle of the part of the region of the object is obtained from at least three height values around the part of the region of the object.

Assignees

• Suzuki Yasuo
• Yamaguchi Masaya
• Nikon Corp

Inventors

• Suzuki Yasuo
• Yamaguchi Masaya

Classifications

• G01B11/0608

  Height gauges · CPC title

• G01B21/045 Primary

  Correction of measurements (G01B9/02055 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01B11/02 Primary

  for measuring length, width or thickness (G01B11/08 takes precedence) · CPC title