Innovative simultaneous confocal full-field 3D surface profilometry for in situ automatic optical inspection (AOI)

Abstract

Rapid acquisition of surface 3D contour information using optical detection has attracted tremendous interest in the field of automatic optical inspection (AOI) and how to avoid or minimize environmental vibration or disturbance has become a critical issue in in situ inspection. Owing to its high longitudinal measurability and excellent vertical resolution, optical confocal microscopy has become extremely important for surface profilometry. This study presents a novel simultaneous confocal full-field 3D surface profilometer using structured fringe projection. The developed confocal optical system is capable of acquiring multiple images at various object depths to perform surface 3D reconstruction by a single image shot without the need for time-consuming vertical scanning. In this method, four conjugate image-sensing modules are configured at four different designated focusing positions, which are controlled by a specially designed beam-splitting optical module. A focal-depth response (FDR) curve can be established by fitting the four focus measurements obtained from these designated positions to achieve simultaneous confocal vertical scanning. In addition, using the principle of optical grating projection, a structured fringe pattern is generated for lateral scanning to enhance the spatial measurement resolution. To examine the performance of the developed system, an accurate step-height target and some industrial micro semiconductor components were measured. The results show that the depth measurement resolution can reach up to 0.1 µm and the maximum measurement error is within 1.5% of the overall range, indicating both accuracy and repeatability of the proposed confocal measurement approach.