Patent · US Active

Autofocus method and autofocus device

US9310598B2 · kind B2 · utility

4Cited by

183References

20Claims

0Family size

Assignee

Sakura Finetek U.S.A., Inc. · US

Inventors

Paul Hing · Sigmaringen, DE
Sven Hensler · Gaienhofen, DE

Key dates

Filing date	Mar 11, 2010
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016
Priority date	—
Expiry date	Apr 24, 2033

Classification

Technology area (CPC G)Physics
CPC primaryG02B21/247
WIPO fieldOptics
WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

The invention is based on an autofocus method in which light from a light source (12) is focused at a measurement light focus (52) in a sample (6) and is reflected from there and the reflected light is guided through an optical system (22) in two light paths (48, 50) onto at least two detector elements (72, 74). In order to achieve fast and accurate automatic focusing on the sample, it is proposed that the measurement light focus (52) is moved in layers of the sample (6) which reflect light to different extents, and the detector elements (72, 74) are arranged in such a way that, in this case, profiles of a radiation property registered by the detector elements (72, 74) are different and a focus position is set in a manner dependent on the profiles.

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