Automatic optical inspection system for 3D surface profile measurement of multi-microlenses using the optimal inspection path

In this paper, an automatic optical inspection system is proposed for measuring the three-dimensional surface profile of multi-microlenses according to the optimal inspection path. The proposed system is applicable for full and sampling inspection of microlens arrays, and has the following contributions: (1) the optimal inspection path of sampling inspection is derived by a Genetic Algorithm considering the acceleration characteristic of the XY-table. (2) The incomplete microlens fringe is removed, and the center of each microlens can be automatically positioned. (3) The phase difference of each neighboring pixel is calculated through the concept of sign reversal in order to rebuild the surface profile. According to the experimental results, the lens sag of microlenses in different sizes can be correctly measured by the proposed system, and a relative error of 3.4% (max) can be achieved. Compared with other methods, the positioning time of the proposed method is shortened by 10% to 30%, validating the practicability of this system.