Scoring process and apparatus with confocal optical measurement
AssigneeVI Engineering, Inc.
InventorYuesheng Lu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method and apparatus for scoring a slot through one surface of an article by a scoring light beam confocally determines the remaining depth in the article between the bottom of the slot and an opposed second surface to automatically control the application of the scoring light beam at a particular point in the slot to maintain a constant depth between the bottom of the slot and the opposed second surface along the entirety of the slot despite any surface dimensional variations in the article. In one aspect, a detecting laser beam is directed into the slot formed by the scoring laser beam during formation of the slot, with only light reflected from a confocal plane established at the predetermined bottom depth of the slot being reflected to a detector.
Claims14
A method for forming a slot in a first surface of an article having first and second opposed surfaces, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a scoring light beam;
- using the beam to form a slot in the article of a predetermined depth in the first surface;
- and
- confocally determining the remaining thickness in the article between a bottom of the slot and the opposed second surface of the article.
A method for forming a slot in a first surface of an article having first and second opposed surfaces, the method comprising the steps of:
- generating a scoring light beam;
- using the beam to form a slot in the article of a predetermined depth in the first surface;
- determining the depth of the slot with respect to one surface of the article as a relation of the magnitude of the intensity of light reflected from the slot;
- modulating the scoring light beam at a first frequency;
- and
- selecting only the light intensity output at the first frequency.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.