| Class / Patent application number | Description | Number of patent applications / Date published |
|---|
| 356624000 | Focus | 12 |
| 20090201514 | POSITION DETECTION METHOD, EXPOSURE APPARATUS, AND DEVICE MANUFACTURING METHOD - This invention discloses a position detection method for detecting the focus position of an optical position detection apparatus including an image sensor and an optical system which forms an image of a target object on the image sensing surface of the image sensor. In this method, the relationship between the position of the target object in the optical-axis direction of the optical system and the evaluation value of the signal output from the image sensor is measured, and the position of a peak close to a reference focus position, which is selected if the evaluation value has a plurality of peaks in the measured relationship, is detected as the focus position. | 08-13-2009 |
| 20090310147 | OPTICAL DISPLACEMENT MEASURING INSTRUMENT - A first light detector and a second light detector, in each of which a plurality of light-receiving elements are arranged in an adjoining manner, are respectively provided anterior to an image-forming point of first reflected light and posterior to an image-forming point of second reflected light. A focal-point detecting circuit includes: maximum value selectors for selecting the maximum values from sums of light-receiving signals from adjoining light-receiving elements of the first light detector and the second light detector respectively; a total value operator for obtaining the total value of light-receiving signals from all the light-receiving elements of each of the first light detector and the second light detector; a light-detecting-signal operator for obtaining light-detecting signals by subtracting the maximum values from the total values; and an error-signal operational circuit for outputting a difference between the light-detecting signals to a servo circuit as a signal based on an amount of displacement between a focal point and a measuring face. | 12-17-2009 |
| 20100265519 | DISPLACEMENT SENSOR - A displacement is accurately measured at high speed to a measurement object having various surface states. In a displacement sensor including a confocal optical system in which an objective lens is moved along an optical axis, light emitted from a laser diode is formed into a slit beam by a cylindrical lens, a Y-axis side orthogonal to the optical axis is narrowed such that the light is collected on a surface of a measurement object, and an X-axis orthogonal to the optical axis is elongated in order to average a component of the light reflected from the surface. A photodiode receives the light reflected from the surface of the measurement object through an opening disposed in a position of conjugation with the laser diode. The opening is formed into a slit shape that is short in the Y-axis while being long in the X-axis. The displacement of the surface is measured from a position of the objective lens when a light receiving signal becomes the maximum. | 10-21-2010 |
| 20110019206 | Auto Focus System for Reticle Inspection - Methods and apparatus relating to the inspection of photomasks are described. In an embodiment, an inspection tool may be automatically focused on a reticle utilizing various topographic mapping techniques. Other embodiments are also described. | 01-27-2011 |
| 20110205553 | Method for focusing an object plane and optical assembly - A method for focusing an object plane ( | 08-25-2011 |
| 20120099120 | EXPOSURE CONDITION DETERMINING METHOD AND SURFACE INSPECTION APPARATUS - There is provided an exposure condition determining method for determining an exposure condition for an exposure-objective substrate having a plurality of semiconductor pattern features formed by predetermined exposure on a surface thereon, the method including, irradiating an illumination light onto a surface of a substrate, which has the pattern features, detecting a diffracted light from the plurality of semiconductor pattern features of the substrate irradiated with the illumination light, and determining the exposure condition based on a variation in brightness of the detected diffracted light. | 04-26-2012 |
| 20120133957 | LASER CONFOCAL SENSOR METROLOGY SYSTEM - The present invention provides apparatus for a non-contact method of obtaining accurate three-dimensional measurements of a dry contact lens, more specifically, using dry lens metrology to know the exact thickness of a contact lens. | 05-31-2012 |
| 20120320385 | OPTICAL NAVIGATION MODULE WITH CAPACITIVE SENSOR - Optical navigation modules and methods of operating the same to sense relative movement between the optical navigation module and a tracking surface are provided. In one embodiment, the optical navigation module comprises: (i) a light source to illuminate at least a portion of a surface relative to which the optical navigation module is moved; (ii) an integrated circuit (IC) including a photo-detector array (PDA) to detect a light pattern propagated onto the PDA from the surface, and a signal processor to translate changes in the light pattern propagated onto the PDA into data representing motion of the optical navigation module relative to the surface; and (iii) a substrate to which the light source and IC are mounted, the substrate including an aperture in a light path between the surface and the PDA. Other embodiments are also disclosed. | 12-20-2012 |
| 20130329233 | SYSTEM, METHOD, AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING A FOCAL POSITION OF AN OBJECTIVE IN A MICROSCOPY IMAGING SYSTEM - A system and method of determining a focal position for an objective positioned at a measurement location of a sample holder in a microscopy imaging system are provided. The objective is moved to a position relative to the sample holder that corresponds to a distance between the objective and the sample holder. The sample holder has a conditioned upper surface. A focusing light beam is projected onto the sample holder when the objective is located at the position, and the objective focuses the focusing light beam on the sample holder. A reflected light beam resulting from reflection of the focusing light beam off the conditioned upper surface is observed. The focal position for the objective is determined based on the reflected light beam such that the objective produces an in focus image of a microscopy sample when the objective is located at the focal position. | 12-12-2013 |
| 20140168664 | DIGITAL MOVEMENT MEASURING DEVICE - A device for measuring movement of a mobile element moving in at least one direction, includes:
| 06-19-2014 |
| 20140268180 | POSITIONAL CHANGE MEASUREMENT DEVICE, POSITIONAL CHANGE MEASUREMENT METHOD, AND IMAGE FORMING APPARATUS - An objective is to achieve a positional change measurement device which measures positional change of a dynamic measured surface by using speckle patterns while easily reducing influence of fluctuations in a measurement environment temperature. Provided is a positional change measurement device including: a light source; an illuminating optical system configured to guide light from the light source to a measured surface; an imaging optical system; an image pickup device configured to acquire a speckle pattern by receiving reflection light from the measured surface via the imaging optical system; and detected-length compensation means for compensating for fluctuations in a detected length caused by temperature fluctuations. Positional change of the measured surface is measured based on a result of cross-correlation computation performed on multiple speckle patterns acquired at predetermined time intervals. | 09-18-2014 |
| 20140307266 | THREE-DIMENSIONAL DISTANCE MEASURING METHOD AND ASSOCIATED SYSTEM - A three-dimensional distance measuring method includes: projecting at least one beam set forming a projection plane onto a surface of an object, the beam set including multiple beams transmitted according to a predetermined first path function and linearly arranged to form detection points on the surface of the object; rendering the beams reflected by the surface of the object to pass through a focus of a focusing element to form a sense image on a photosensitive memory element; obtaining a corresponding second path function according to an image formation position of each beam on the photosensitive memory element and a position of the focus of the focusing element; and calculating an intersection position of each first path function and the corresponding second path function to obtain a spatial position of each detection point on the object. | 10-16-2014 |
