JPH047513A - Erection type microscope - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention [Industrial Application Field] The present invention is a method of magnifying a minute substance using an objective lens and an eyepiece lens to observe the details of the minute substance. Regarding vertical microscopes.

[Conventional technology]

As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, in a conventional upright microscope, on the optical axis including the objective lens, there is an epi-illumination device located at the upper part of an arm section with a built-in epi-illumination optical system behind the objective lens. The structure was such that the lens barrel was attached to the upper part of the arm part to which the mirror could be attached, or on top of the epi-illumination device attached to the arm part.

- Even today, the density of Furute Conductor's DRAM is increasing at a rate of four times every three years. Therefore, the patterns observed with a microscope are naturally becoming increasingly finer, and it is thought that this will continue to progress in this direction. The current bottleneck in the production of semiconductors is that dirt adheres to wafers due to dust generation, reducing yields, and the primary cause of dust generation is from humans. Although most of the semiconductor manufacturing process has been automated, there are still some manual methods left in the inspection process, and it is expected that these methods will continue into the future.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

However, because conventional upright microscopes have the above-mentioned structure, there is a risk of dust generation from people, especially the breath of the person performing the inspection, which may come directly onto the wafer, or the arm placed above the wafer surface during operation. There was a problem in that when the wafer was raised, dirt fell onto the wafer.

Furthermore, conventional accessories for upright microscopes, such as photographic devices, television cameras, and photometric devices, are attached to the top of the lens barrel, as shown in Figure 5, so they are installed in a high position, and the wafer There was a problem in that the wafer was directly above the wafer, causing dust to fall onto the wafer even when operating a photographic device or a photometric device.

There was also the problem of poor operability due to the high position of the device.

Furthermore, these accessories include shutters, etc.
It becomes a source of vibration during operation, and since it is stacked on top of the lens barrel, it is not a structure that is strong against vibrations.Also, as mentioned above, patterns are getting smaller and finer, making it difficult to use a microscope for inspection. In the current situation where overall magnification is increasing, vibration must be avoided as much as possible, but there is also a problem in vibration resistance in this respect.

In addition, when installing an intermediate lens barrel such as an autofocus device, intermediate variable magnification device, or polarizer with accessories other than those mentioned above, the conventional Royal Microscope should be attached between the lens barrel and the arm as shown in Figure 6. Since the structure is such that accessories can be volatilized, there is a problem in that when those accessories are used, the position of the lens barrel becomes higher and higher.

An object of the present invention is to provide an upright microscope that is easy to operate, does not generate dust from people or fall from accessories onto wafers, has excellent vibration resistance, and is stable.

[Means to solve problems]

For the above purpose, the present invention includes a main body base (5) and a stage (8) disposed near the top surface of the main body base (5).
), an arm part (1) having an objective lens revolver (7) fixed at its end that holds an objective lens (21) for the stage (8), and an arm part (1) that supports the arm part (1) and An arm support member (2) fixed to one end of the main body base portion (5), facing the arm support member (2),
The body base portion (5) supports the lens barrel portion (4) and the body base portion (5).
A means for solving the problem is to have a lens barrel support member (10) fixedly installed at the other end.

[Effect]

In the present invention, since the lens barrel portion for observing the sample is arranged horizontally away from the conventional vertical arrangement, there is no inconvenience such as human breath being directly exposed to the sample during observation or inspection.

In addition, the knob of the vertical movement part normally used for operating the microscope, the photographic device, etc. can be placed in the desired position on the base of the main body, which eliminates the conventional poor operability and This eliminates inconveniences such as dust generation during operation.

Furthermore, instead of the traditional configuration of stacking attached devices,
Since each device is arranged at least independently, it is structurally stable and the observation position (height) can be kept constant. Also, by installing a tilted lens barrel,
The height can be finely adjusted and the viewing angle can be adjusted depending on individual differences.

〔Example〕

FIG. 1 is a side view of one embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the optical system and the positional relationship of the outer frame.

In Figures 1 and 2, the objective lens revolver (7) is positioned on the optical axis (6) at the center of the base (5), and the arm part (
1) Attached to the tip. An optical system (11) for epi-illumination is arranged inside the arm (1), and epi-illumination is possible using a lamp (not shown) attached to the rear of the arm or a fiber led from another light source. . At the rear of the arm is an arm support member (2) that supports the arm.
), and its arm support member (2) is attached to the rear of the base.

There is the aforementioned optical axis (6) in the center of the base part (5), and the stage is attached to the stage attachment part (3) with respect to the optical axis. It is driven in the direction of the optical axis (6) by a vertical movement mechanism. The means for driving the vertical movement mechanism is a knob (9) provided on the front side of the base. Furthermore, the knob has two or three knobs coaxially arranged on the same axis, and allows the stage (8) to be moved up and down by coarse, fine, or medium movement, thereby making it possible to focus on the specimen. It is also movable in the direction perpendicular to the stage optical axis (6), and moved in the X1Y directions by a knob (not shown) provided on the stage.

This allows the specimen to be observed within the movement range of the stage, and the observation position can be easily moved to any desired position using the aforementioned knob.

An optical system (12) for transmitted illumination is arranged on the optical axis (6) of the base part (5) at the bottom of the stage (8), and a condenser (12) for transmitted illumination is installed in the stage mounting part (3). 13)
is installed. Transmissive illumination is made possible by the above-mentioned transmissive illumination optical system and condenser using a lamp (not shown) or a fiber led from another light source on the rear or side surface of the base.

A lens barrel support member (10) is provided on the front side of the base portion (5), and a lens barrel (4) is attached to the tip thereof.

After passing through an objective lens (21) and a reflecting mirror (22) for epi-illumination, the imaging optical system changes its optical axis backward within the arm using a reflecting mirror (23) or a prism, and passes through the arm. Further, at the rear of the arm, a reflecting mirror (24) or a prism is used to direct the optical axis downward and pass through the arm support member (2). The light beam that has passed through the arm support member (2) changes its optical axis to the front side by a reflecting mirror (25) or a prism at the rear of the base portion, and is allowed to pass through the inside of the base. The optical axis is changed by a reflecting mirror (26, 27, 28) or a prism to the lens barrel provided on the front side of the optical axis (6) containing the aforementioned objective lens, and the light beam is guided into the lens barrel.
There, an image is created and the image is magnified with an eyepiece (29) to observe the specimen.

In the imaging optical system, a relay lens or the like is inserted in the optical path.
By creating a spot image, it is possible to insert a scale, mask, etc. in that part, and thereby the scale, mask, etc. can be observed in the same field of view as the observation image.

By using a half mirror or prism to divide the reflecting mirror (26) into two optical paths, one side is moved towards the lens barrel and the other is brought closer to the front, allowing the photographic equipment (31) etc. to be placed at the bottom of the lens barrel. can be installed.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As described above, according to the present invention, since the lens barrel is horizontally separated from the sample position, there is an effect that human breath is not directly applied to the sample and dust does not fall during operation.

In addition, since accessories can be placed at desired positions on the base of the main body, there is no need to stack accessories, which makes it possible to maintain the lens barrel at a predetermined position (height) and improves operability. , it also has the effect of improving vibration resistance.

Furthermore, since the imaging optical system uses a relay lens in the optical path and can create images at multiple locations, it is possible to insert scales, masks, etc. in those locations, so scales, masks, etc. can be placed in the same field of view as the observed image. There are also observable effects.

Furthermore, if a photograph is taken using a photographic device, the scale or mask can be included in the photograph together with the microscope image.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view of the royal microscope according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is a diagram showing the arrangement of the optical system and the positional relationship of the outer frame of the upright microscope according to the present invention, and Fig. 3 is a conventional upright microscope. Figure 4 is a side view showing a type with an epi-illumination device built into the arm of the microscope, Figure 4 is a side view showing a type with an epi-illumination device attached to a conventional upright microscope, and Figure 5 is a conventional upright type microscope. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state in which a photographic device is attached to a microscope. FIG. 6 is a side view showing a state in which an intermediate lens barrel such as a variable magnification device is attached to a conventional upright microscope. [Explanation of symbols of main parts] 1...Arm part, 2...Stand part,
3...Vertical moving part, 4... Lens barrel part, 5.
...Base part, 6...Optical axis, 7...
...Objective lens revolver, 8... Stage, 9
...Knob for moving the stage up and down, 10...
Lens barrel support member, 11... Optical system for epi-illumination, 12... Optical system for transmitted illumination, 13... Condenser for transmitted illumination, 21...
...Objective lens, 22...Half mirror for epi-illumination 23, 24,
25, 26, 27, 28... Reflection mirror 29... Eyepiece, 31... Photographic device.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A main body base, a stage disposed near the upper surface of the main body base, an arm having an objective lens revolver fixed to its end that holds an objective lens for the stage, and the arm. an arm support member that supports the lens barrel portion and is fixed to one end of the main body base portion, and a mirror that faces the arm support member and supports the lens barrel portion and is fixed to the other end of the main body base portion. An upright microscope characterized by having a cylinder support member. 2. Claim 1, wherein the arm portion, the arm support member, the main body base portion, and the lens barrel support member each have an optical path for an observation optical system inside.
Upright microscope as described in section.