# US 2013/0155415 A1 · Height-measuring method and height-measuring device > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2013/0155415 A1 - Document ID: US20130155415A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 13/670,133 - Filed: 2012-11-06 - Published: 2013-06-20 - Earliest claimed: 2010-05-07 - Assignees: Nikon Corporation - Inventors: Takashi NISHIKAWA - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20130155415A1 ## CPC - G01B 11/06: for measuring thickness {; e.g. of sheet material (thickness measurement by thermal means G01B21/085)} - G01B 11/0608: {Height gauges} - G06T 7/55: from multiple images - G01B: MEASURING LENGTH, THICKNESS OR SIMILAR LINEAR DIMENSIONS; MEASURING ANGLES; MEASURING AREAS; MEASURING IRREGULARITIES OF SURFACES OR CONTOURS - G06T: IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL ## Abstract A height-measuring device (100) in which the focal position of an image-forming optical system (20) is moved in relative fashion in the direction of an optical axis with respect to an object (10) to be measured; scanning is performed; images of the object (10) to be measured, which are formed by the image-forming optical system (20), are obtained in order; and the focal position for individual pixels of the images is found, thereby yielding a relative height value of the object to be measured (10) at positions corresponding to the pixels; wherein a second function (g) is defined on the basis of a first function (f) fitted to a numerical value sequence comprising a coordinate value on the optical axis and a light intensity value for the pixels of a plurality of the images obtained by the scanning, or the coordinate value and a numerical value obtained by processing the light intensity value; and positions on the optical axis at which a correlation value between the numerical value sequence and the second function (g) becomes a maximum value or a minimum value serve as the relative height values of the object to be measured at the positions corresponding to the pixels. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A height-measuring method comprising: moving an optical system relative to be measured along an optical axis of the optical system; forming an image of the object to be measured on a surface; measuring a relative height of the object based on a change in brightness in the surface, and finding a correlation between a first property indicative of the change in brightness with respect to the relative movement of the optical system based on a portion of the first property where the change in brightness with respect to the relative movement of the optical system is large and a second property indicative of the change in brightness with respect to the relative movement of the optical system, and finding the relative height based on the correlation. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The height-measuring method according to claim 1, further comprising performing partial differentiation on a change in the correlation when the first property and the second property to find the amount of relative movement at which the correlation reaches a maximum; and determining the relative height based on the amount of relative movement. ### Claim 3 A height-measuring method comprising: moving an optical system relative to the object to be measured along an optical axis of the optical system; forming an image of the object to be measured on a surface; capturing an image of the surface; measuring the relative height of the object based on the formed image repeatedly carrying out the relative movement of the optical system with respect to the object to be measured and the image-capturing; defining a second function on the basis of a first function fitted to a property including a position of the optical system on the optical axis and a light intensity value of a pixel, as obtained for individual pixels of each of the resulting plurality of images; and determining the relative height of the object at a position corresponding to the pixel using the position of the optical system on the optical axis when a correlation value between the property and the second function exhibits an extreme value. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The height-measuring method according to claim 3, wherein the second function is a function in which an absolute value of a first-order differential function of the first function is squared. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The height-measuring method according to claim 3, wherein the second function is a function in which the first function has been multiplied by a constant. ### Claim 6 (depends on 2) The height-measuring method according to claim 2, further comprising determining a desired shift amount at which a value of zero is obtained by performing partial differentiation on a correlation value between the second function moved by the shift amount and the property to determine the relative height of the object to be measured at the position corresponding to the pixel. ### Claim 7 A height-measuring device, comprising: an optical system configured to form an image of an object to be measured; a drive unit configured to move one of the object to be measured and the optical system relative to the other of the object to be measured and the optical system along an optical axis of the optical system; a camera configured to capture an image; and a controller configured to repeatedly carry out the relative movement and the image-capturing and determine the relative height of the object based on the captured images. ### Claim 8 (depends on 7) The height-measuring device according to claim 7, wherein the optical system is a microscope, and wherein an objective lens of the microscope is moved relative to the object to be measured along the optical axis and wherein the microscope is configured to scan the object to be measured to capture the image. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The height-measuring device according to claim 8, wherein the microscope is configured to be at least one of a dark field optical microscope, a polarizing microscope, a fluorescence microscope, a differential interference microscope, a two-beam interference microscope, a stereomicroscope, and a zoom microscope; and wherein the microscope includes a focal position movement mechanism, an image-capturing mechanism, and a control processor. ### Claim 10 (depends on 8) The height-measuring device according to claim 8, wherein the microscope is a two-beam interference microscope, and wherein an object-use objective lens is moved relative to the object to be measured along the optical axis. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The height-measuring device according to claim 8, wherein the microscope is a two-beam interference microscope including a reference light objective lens and a reference-light-forming mirror, and wherein the reference light objective lens and the reference-light-forming mirror are jointly moved along the optical axis.