Sensing a dimensional change in a surface
First Claim
1. A method for determining a dimensional change in a surface of an object, comprising:
- at a first time, acquiring a first image of said surface at a first spatial window thereon having a first known position relative to a frame of reference;
at a second time, acquiring a second image of said surface at a second spatial window thereon having a second known position relative to said frame of reference;
processing said first image and said second image according to an image displacement sensing algorithm to determine a relative translation of a first point on said surface between said first and second times; and
using said relative translation of said first point, said first known position, and said second known position to determine the dimensional change in said surface between said first and second times.
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Abstract
Determining a dimensional change in a surface of an object is described. At a first time, a first image of the surface is acquired at a first spatial window thereon having a first known position relative to a frame of reference. At a second time, a second image of the surface is acquired at a second spatial window thereon having a second known position relative to the frame of reference. The first image and the second image are processed according to an image displacement sensing algorithm to determine a relative translation of a first point on the surface between the first and second times. The relative translation of the first point, the first known position, and the second known position are used to determine the dimensional change in the surface between the first and second times.
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Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method for determining a dimensional change in a surface of an object, comprising:
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at a first time, acquiring a first image of said surface at a first spatial window thereon having a first known position relative to a frame of reference;
at a second time, acquiring a second image of said surface at a second spatial window thereon having a second known position relative to said frame of reference;
processing said first image and said second image according to an image displacement sensing algorithm to determine a relative translation of a first point on said surface between said first and second times; and
using said relative translation of said first point, said first known position, and said second known position to determine the dimensional change in said surface between said first and second times. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. An apparatus for determining a dimensional change in a surface of an object between a first time and a second time, comprising:
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a first imaging device acquiring a first image of the surface at the first time in a first spatial window thereon having a first known position relative to a frame of reference and acquiring a second image of the surface at the second time in a second spatial window thereon having a second known position relative to the frame of reference; and
a processor processing said first image and said second image to determine a relative shift of a first point on said surface between said first and second times, said determined relative shift being used in conjunction with said first known position, said second known position, and known positions of a second point on said surface at said first and second times for computing the dimensional change;
wherein each of said first and second windows is relatively small compared to at least one dimension of the surface;
and wherein said processing said first image and said second image to determine said relative shift comprises an image displacement sensing algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. An apparatus for determining a dimensional change in a substrate, comprising:
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means for acquiring a first image of the substrate at a first time in a first spatial window thereover having a first known position relative to a frame of reference;
means for acquiring a second image of the substrate at a second time in a second spatial window thereover having a second known position relative to the frame of reference; and
means for processing said first image and said second image to determine a relative shift of a first point on said substrate between said first and second times, said determined relative shift being used in conjunction with said first known position, said second known position, and known positions of a second point on said substrate at said first and second times for computing the dimensional change;
wherein each of said first and second windows is relatively small compared to at least one dimension of the surface;
and wherein said means for processing said first image and said second image to determine said relative shift uses an image displacement sensing algorithm. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23)
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24. A computer readable medium storing computer code for determining a dimensional change in a surface of an object, comprising:
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computer code for receiving a first image of the surface in a first spatial window thereon having a first known position relative to a frame of reference, the first image being acquired at a first time;
computer code for receiving a second image of the surface in a second spatial window thereon having a second known position relative to said frame of reference, the second image being acquired at a second time;
computer code for processing said first image and said second image according to an image displacement sensing algorithm to determine a relative translation of a first point on said surface between said first and second times; and
computer code for determining the dimensional change in said surface between said first and second times based on said relative translation of said first point, said first known position, and said second known position. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. An apparatus for imprint lithography, comprising:
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a platen for supporting a substrate, said substrate undergoing a lateral affine distortion between a first and second time while supported by said platen;
a molding block for embossing said substrate by guiding an imprint lithography mold in a vertical direction relative to said substrate;
an imaging device configured to image said substrate at a plurality of relatively small windows thereon, each window being laterally fixed relative to at least one of said molding block and said platen; and
a processor comparing, for each of said windows, a first image acquired by said imaging device at a first time to a second image acquired by said imaging device at a second time according to an image displacement sensing algorithm to compute a local shift of said substrate relative to said window, said processor subsequently determining at least one parameter associated with said affine distortion based on said computed local shifts. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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Specification