Three-dimensional measurements with a novel technique combination of confocal and focus variation with a simultaneous scan

The most common optical measurement technologies used today for the three dimensional measurement of technical surfaces are Coherence Scanning Interferometry (CSI), Imaging Confocal Microscopy (IC), and Focus Variation (FV). Each one has its benefits and its drawbacks. FV will be the ideal technology for the measurement of those regions where the slopes are high and where the surface is very rough, while CSI and IC will provide better results for smoother and flatter surface regions. In this work we investigated the benefits and drawbacks of combining Interferometry, Confocal and focus variation to get better measurement of technical surfaces. We investigated a way of using Microdisplay Scanning type of Confocal Microscope to acquire on a simultaneous scan confocal and focus Variation information to reconstruct a three dimensional measurement. Several methods are presented to fuse the optical sectioning properties of both techniques as well as the topographical information. This work shows the benefit of this combination technique on several industrial samples where neither confocal nor focus variation is able to provide optimal results.Postprint (author's final draft

Stent optical inspection system calibration and performance

Implantable medical devices, such as stents, have to be inspected 100% so no defective ones are implanted into a human body. In this paper, a novel optical stent inspection system is presented. By the combination of a high numerical aperture microscope, a triple illumination system, a rotational stage, and a CMOS camera, unrolled sections of the outer and inner surfaces of the stent are obtained with high resolution at high speed with a line-scan approach. In this paper, a comparison between the conventional microscope image formation and this new approach is shown. A calibration process and the investigation of the error sources that lead to inaccuracies of the critical dimension measurements are presented.Postprint (author's final draft

Three-dimensional imaging confocal profiler without in-plane scanning

Most 3D metrological microscopes used today require a scanning through the optical axis, which is time consuming. The common techniques are Coherence Scanning Interferometry (CSI), Imaging Confocal Microscopy (ICM), and Focus Variation (FV). If one technique is good for smooth surfaces, it is not for rough ones, while the good for rough is too noisy for smooth ones. Additionally, high local slopes are also dependent on the scattering properties of the surface, making the Numerical Aperture of the objective the most important property of the microscope. Imaging Confocal Microscopy is the best compromise in terms of surface application range (from smooth to rough), high local slopes on shiny surfaces, highest numerical aperture and highest possible magnification. Unfortunately, any kind of Confocal microscope today (laser scan, disc scan or microdisplay scan) requires an in-plane scanning to build up the confocal image in addition to the vertical scan, increasing the total measuring time in comparison to CSI and FV. This is against the needs of quality control in production environments, where scanning speed must be as short as possible. In this paper, we use a Microdisplay Scanning Microscope for obtaining the confocal image only relying on a single image per plane. We use a structured illumination to project a desired pattern onto the surface with a very well-defined frequency and direction. By means of the Hilbert transform, we digitally shift the projected pattern one or many times to recover the bright field and the optical sectioned images. This new method reduces significantly the measurement time, simplifies the overall cost of the system and eliminates the maintenance of scanning devices, while maintaining the optical sectioning properties of each plane. We also studied the performance of the resulting topography in terms of system noise, accuracy, repeatability and fidelity of the surface using different methods to obtain the confocal image. Finally, we also compared the results with true confocal results and with other techniques that require a single image per plane, such as Active illumination Focus Variation (AiFV).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Three-dimensional measurements with a novel technique combination of confocal and focus variation with a simultaneous scan

The most common optical measurement technologies used today for the three dimensional measurement of technical surfaces are Coherence Scanning Interferometry (CSI), Imaging Confocal Microscopy (IC), and Focus Variation (FV). Each one has its benefits and its drawbacks. FV will be the ideal technology for the measurement of those regions where the slopes are high and where the surface is very rough, while CSI and IC will provide better results for smoother and flatter surface regions. In this work we investigated the benefits and drawbacks of combining Interferometry, Confocal and focus variation to get better measurement of technical surfaces. We investigated a way of using Microdisplay Scanning type of Confocal Microscope to acquire on a simultaneous scan confocal and focus Variation information to reconstruct a three dimensional measurement. Several methods are presented to fuse the optical sectioning properties of both techniques as well as the topographical information. This work shows the benefit of this combination technique on several industrial samples where neither confocal nor focus variation is able to provide optimal results

Residual flatness error correction in three-dimensional imaging confocal microscopes

Imaging Confocal Microscopes (ICM) are highly used for the assessment of three-dimensional measurement of technical surfaces. The benefit of an ICM in comparison to an interferometer is the use of high numerical aperture microscope objectives, which allows retrieving signal from high slope regions of a surface. When measuring a flat sample, such as a high-quality mirror, all ICM’s show a complex shape of low frequencies instead of a uniform flat result. Such shape, obtained from a ¿/10, Sa < 0.5 nm calibration mirror is used as a reference for being subtracted from all the measurements, according to ISO 25178-607. This is true and valid only for those surfaces that have small slopes. When measuring surfaces with varying local slopes or tilted with respect to the calibration, the flatness error calibration is no longer valid, leaving what is called the residual flatness error. In this paper we show that the residual flatness error on a reference sphere measured with a 10X can make the measurement of the radius to have up to 10% error. We analyzed the sources that generate this effect and proposed a method to correct it: we measured a tilted mirror with several angles and characterized the flatness error as a function of the distance to the optical axis, and the tilt angle. New measurements take into account such characterization by assessing the local slopes. We tested the method on calibrated reference spheres and proved to provide correct measurements. We also analyzed this behavior in Laser Scan as well on Microdisplay Scan confocal microscopes.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Confocal unrolled areal measurements of cylindrical surfaces

Confocal microscopes are widely used for areal measurements thanks to its good height resolution and the capability to measure high local slopes. For the measurement of large areas while keeping few nm of system noise, it is needed to use high numerical aperture objectives, move the sample in the XY plane and stitch several fields together to cover the required surface. On cylindrical surfaces a rotational stage is used to measure fields along the round surface and stitch them in order to obtain a complete 3D measurement. The required amount of fields depends on the microscope’s magnification, as well as on the cylinder diameter. However, for small diameters, if the local shape reaches slopes not suitable for the objective under use, the active field of the camera has to be reduced, leading to an increase of the required number of fields to be measured and stitched. In this paper we show a new approach for areal measurements of cylindrical surfaces that uses a rotational stage in combination with a slit projection confocal arrangement and a highspeed camera. An unrolled confocal image of the cylinder surface is built by rotating the sample and calculating the confocal intensity in the centre of the slit using a gradient algorithm. A set of 360º confocal images can be obtained at different heights of the sample relative to the sensor and used to calculate an unrolled areal measure of the cylinder. This method has several advantages over the conventional one such as no stitching required, or reduced measurement time. In addition, the result shows less residual flatness error since the surface lies flat in the measurement direction in comparison to field measures where the highest slope regions will show field distortion and non-constant sampling. We have also studied the influence on the areal measurements of wobble and run-out introduced by the clamping mechanism and the rotational axis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Novel stent optical inspection system

Stent quality control is a critical process. Coronary stents have to be inspected 100% so no defective stent is implanted into a human body. Skilled operators currently perform the quality process control visually, and every stent could need tens of minutes to be inspected. In this paper, a novel stent optical inspection system is presented. By the combination of a high numerical aperture microscope, a triple illumination optical system, a rotational stage, and a line-scan camera, unrolled sections of the outer and inner surfaces of the stent are obtained with high resolution at high speed. We expect with this new approach to make the stent inspection task more objective and to dramatically reduce the time and the overall cost of the stent quality control process.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Metrological characterization of different methods for recovering the optically sectioned image by means of structured light

Imaging confocal microscopy (ICM) and focus variation (FV) are two of the most used technologies for 3D surface metrology. Both methods rely on the depth of focus of the microscope objective, which depends on its numerical aperture and wavelength of the light source to compute an optical section. In this paper we study how several methods of structured illumination microscopy affect the metrological characteristics of an areal optical profiler. We study the effect of the projection of different structured patterns, the sectioning algorithms, and the use of high and low frequency components onto the optically sectioned image. We characterized their performance in terms of system noise, instrument transfer function and metrological characteristics such as roughness parameters and step height values.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Stent optical inspection system calibration and performance

Implantable medical devices, such as stents, have to be inspected 100% so no defective ones are implanted into a human body. In this paper, a novel optical stent inspection system is presented. By the combination of a high numerical aperture microscope, a triple illumination system, a rotational stage, and a CMOS camera, unrolled sections of the outer and inner surfaces of the stent are obtained with high resolution at high speed with a line-scan approach. In this paper, a comparison between the conventional microscope image formation and this new approach is shown. A calibration process and the investigation of the error sources that lead to inaccuracies of the critical dimension measurements are presented