Autofocus and Performance Enhancements to a Microscale Metrology Station, USA

[MEGraduate]

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Contact Information

University: San Jose State University

Team Member(s): None

Faculty Advisors: Professor Burford Furman and Professor Ananda Mysore

Email Address:bduda@slac.stanford.edu

Country:USA

Project Information

Title: Autofocus and Performance Enhancements to a Microscale Metrology Station, USA

Description:

This system will measure and visually detect defects on specimens, (MEMS, Wafer Chips, etc.) at the micron level with 100 nanometers of resolution along 3 axes, XY & Z. The autofocus feature will work with the Machine Vision functionality of the system to expedite the analysis and detection of defects or verification of features on microscale features.

Products:

1. NI PS-15 Power Supply, 24 VDC, 5 A, 100-120/200-240 VAC Input

2. cRIO-9116, 8-slot Virtex-5 LX 85 Reconfigurable Chassis for cRIO

3. NI 9501 C Series Stepper Drive Module

4. N 9932 Backshell with 10-pos connector block

5. Single Axis AKD Drive, ECAT, 3A continuous current, 120/240 VAC

6. T22NRLG-LDN-NS-00 Step Motor, P70530, NEMA23, 280 oz-in, dual shaft

7. AKM22E-ANBNC-00 BLDC Motor with SFD, 3500RPM@160VDC, 2.42Nm

8. Motor Power Cable, AKM Motor to AKD Drive

9. SFD Feedback Cable, AKM Motor to AKD Drive

The Challenge:

This project focused on adding performance enhancements and an autofocusing capability to the Micro Metrology Station. The performance enhancements consist of modifying and adding new and improved functionality to all the existing components including:

• A direct drive stepper motor and a sub-micron resolution encoder added to the Z axis stage for accurate height measurements.
• Add a secondary linear coarse resolution stage for extended travel.
• Redesign the vacuum chuck angular adjustment mechanism.
• Total redesign of the upper structure including Z stage mounting.
• Add a direct friction drive to operate the optical lens magnification mechanism.
• Refurbish & rebuild existing X-Y-Z stages to improve stage motion.
• Re-package all existing and remote components into one standalone system.
• Add a protective top enclosure with ‘see through’ access panels to the upper structure along with a side storage cabinet.
• Upgrade of the existing computer, monitor (with articulating arm), keyboard and mouse.
• Upgrading all motion control components with latest hardware thanks to a generous donation from National Instruments.
• Add a joystick for manual control of axes and lens magnification drive.
• Upgrade software to latest releases for Windows 7 and Labview 2010.
• Document entire system with detail drawings and specification sheets for all vendor components.
• Add autofocusing capability.

The Solution:

A specimen, MEMS device, Silicon Wafer, etc, can be placed onto the vacuum chuck while the XYZ stages are brought into position on the ROI (Region of Interest) then the autofocus feature will help to expedite measurement and allow a visual inspection of any defects or anomalies on the specimen.

The benefits of using Labview and NI Vision help accelerate the control system algorithm through the use of its GUI based format and having a large selection of sample codes that can be utilized to create your entire systems control. The NI Vision is fundamental to any Machine Vision project allowing a wide degree of flexibility in how to acquire and analyze image based system.

See attached file for picture of system.

<insert video of project and team>

<reminder: attach VI code (optional)>

Nominate Your Professor: (optional)

I would like to nominate Professor Furman Phd, PE of San Jose State University for guiding me through this project with patience and expertise while offering his insight and experience when design options became few. Allowing one to exhaust their potential solutions to a problem before helping you to resolve it usually in an elegant fashion is an excellent learning technique. In addition to his regular classes, he also teaches key core ME courses within the Mechanical Engineering program at the university, i.e. Precision Machine Design and Mechatronics. He is also chairing several student projects for both undergraduate and graduate curriculums. He has also established an experimental methods course using Labview as the core software for learning to acquire and analyze test results from various types of experiments.