Surface state inspecting method and substrate inspecting apparatus

• US 6,947,151 B2
• Filed: 01/08/2003
• Issued: 09/20/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/10/2002
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Original Assignee: Omron Corporation
• Inventors: Murakami, Kiyoshi, Fujii, Yoshiki
• Primary Examiner(s): Rosenberger, Richard A.
• Application Number:
  US10/338,020
• Publication Number:
  US 20030169418A1
• Time in Patent Office: 986 Days
• Field of Search: 3562372-2375, 356/237.1, 356612-613, 382/150
• US Class Current: 356/612
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/8806 Specially adapted optical and illumination features
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/95684 Patterns showing highly reflecting parts, e.g. metallic elements

Abstract

In a substrate inspecting apparatus comprising a projecting section (4) in which light sources (8), (9) and (10) are provided for emitting colored lights of R, G and B in directions having different elevation angles, one or two color components which is/are greater than the mean value of the intensities of color components is/are extracted for an inspecting region including a soldered portion. Inclined surfaces adapted to the light sources (8), (9) and (10) are converted into monochromatic shaded images by the extraction processing. A boundary position between the inclined surfaces adapted to the light sources (8) and (9) are converted into one shaded image having a mixed color of red and green and the boundary position between the inclined surfaces adapted to the light sources (9) and (10) is converted into a different shaded image.

Claims

1. A surface state inspecting method comprising the steps of:

picking up an image of a light reflected from an inspection object under an illumination condition in which different colored lights are irradiated in a plurality of directions having different elevation angles with respect to the inspection object;

selecting and executing a processing of extracting one color component having a maximum intensity in color components corresponding to the colored lights or a processing of contracting the color component having a maximum intensity and a color component having the second highest intensity for each pixel in an image reqion including an image of the inspection object based on a relationship between the intensities of the color components with respect to the image obtained by the image pick-up; and

inspecting a surface state of the inspection object by using image data indicative of a result of the processing of extracting a color component in the image region.

2. The surface state inspecting method according to claim 1, wherein the colored lights emitted in the directions have red, green and blue colors and the step of the processing of extracting a color component includes the step of obtaining a mean value of the intensities of the color components and the step of extracting one or two color components which is/are greater than the mean value.

3. The surface state inspecting method according to claim 1, wherein the step of inspecting a surface state of the inspection object includes the step of grouping each pixel in the region based on a type and combination of an extracted color component in the pixel region after executing the step of the processing of extracting a color component, and the step of deciding a suitability of the surface state of the inspection object based on a distribution state of a pixel belonging to each group.

4. A substrate inspecting apparatus comprising:

illuminating means having a plurality of light sources for emitting different colored lights which are provided in directions of different elevation angles with respect to a substrate to be an inspection object, respectively;

image pick-up means for picking up an image of a light reflected from the substrate;

image input means for fetching an image generated by the image pick-up means in a state in which each of the light sources of the illuminating means is turned on;

color component extracting means for selecting and executing a processing of extracting one color component having a maximum intensity in color components corresponding to the light sources or a processing of extracting the color component having a maximum intensity and a color component having the second highest intensity based on a relationship of an intensity of each color component for each pixel in an image region including an image of the inspection object with respect to the input image fetched by the image input means;

deciding means for deciding a suitability of a surface state of the inspection object by using image data in the image region after executing the processing by the color component extracting means; and

output means for outputting a result of the decision carried out by the deciding means.

5. The substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the illuminating means includes three kinds of light sources for emitting colored lights of red, green and blue, and

the color component extracting means includes means for calculating a mean value of the intensities of the color components corresponding to each of the light sources and means for extracting one or two color components which is/are greater than the mean value thus calculated.

6. The substrate inspecting apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the deciding means includes means for grouping each pixel in the image region based on a type and combination of the extracted color component after the processing of the color component extracting means, thereby deciding a suitability of a surface state of the inspection object based on a distribution state of a pixel belonging to each group.

7. A substrate inspecting apparatus comprising:

illuminating means having a plurality of light sources for emitting different colored lights which are provided in directions of different elevation angles with respect to a substrate to be an inspection object, respectively;

image pick-up means for picking up an image of a light reflected from the substrate;

image input means for fetching an image generated by the image pick-up means in a state in which each of the light sources of the illuminating means is turned on;

color component extracting means for selecting and executing a processing of extracting one color component having a maximum intensity in color components corresponding to the light sources or a processing of extracting the color component having a maximum intensity and a color component having the second highest intensity based on a relationship of an intensity of each color component for each pixel, in an image region including an image of the inspection object with respect to the input image fetched by the image input means;

display means for displaying an image by each color component extracted by the color component extracting means; and

input means for accepting an input of data indicative of a result of a decision of quality for the image displayed by the display means.