Patent · US Expired

Apparatus and method for measuring the degradation of a tool

US6633379B2 · kind B2 · utility

14Cited by
10References
24Claims
0Family size

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Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 8, 2001
Grant dateOct 14, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 5, 2021

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01N21/65
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A machining apparatus (10) comprises a material removing tool (12) movably mounted for removing material from a workpiece (14); means for illuminating (42, 54) a sample area upon a tool surface (34) with excitation radiation; means for receiving (42, 54) sample light emitted from the sample area; a spectral analyzer (54) for performing a spectral analysis of the sample light received; and means for determining (60) the condition of the tool at the sample area from the spectral analysis of the sample light. The wear of the tool (12) is determined as such a condition. Operation parameters of the machining apparatus (10) are adjusted according to the determined wear. An example application is a wafer dicing tool.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.