Apparatus and method for in-situ optical inspection of laser-induced surface modifications and laser process control

1 . A method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object, comprising:

utilizing a process laser beam source in a process for a probe light beam source for in-situ inspection of an object surface;

impinging at least one process laser pulse onto a target surface region;

modifying at least one of the optical, mechanical, or chemical properties of a first region of the surface;

generating back-reflected scattered laser light and/or laser light reflected in a specular beam off an illuminated spot on the object surface generating scattered light emitted in a laser-surface interaction;

collecting and measuring the generated scattered light and/or laser light reflected in a specular beam off an illuminated spot and/or light emitted in a laser-surface interaction through at least a portion of a combined and collinear optical light path to provide a bi-directional common optic path to analyze the condition of the target spot; and

constructing an image of the modified surface wherein the constructed image is used to adjust laser pulse intensities for predetermined modifications to other regions.

2 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising impinging with a process laser pulse a region on the target surface, wherein the pulsed laser source generated laser pulses are directed onto a target surface to modify the surface, and wherein the back-scattered light and/or laser light reflected in a specular beam off the impinged region, is collected just before the process laser pulse ends.

3 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising emitting a secondary laser pulse from the process laser source for a probe light illumination of the first region;

wherein the secondary laser pulse is provided:

just after the process laser pulse ends for in-situ post-process inspection; and

just before the process laser pulse starts for in-situ pre-process inspection.

4 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising deploying a process laser in an integrated apparatus to enable collecting scattered light generated as a result of process laser-surface interaction when a process laser pulse impinges a region of the target surface.

5 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing an optical reflector component, allowing the outgoing laser beam to transmit through the optical reflector component and delivery path to a target while separating, in part, back-scattered laser light reflected off the illuminated region and directing it to a photo-detector and analyzer device.

6 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising redirecting the specularly-reflected beam off an illuminated region out of the outgoing laser process beam path using at least one optical module component.

7 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising circularly polarizing the outgoing laser beam and substantially directing the specularly-reflected beam out of the outgoing beam path for measurement and analysis using an optical module comprising optical polarizers and waveplate components.

8 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising a dichroic mirror component comprising a pass-thru opening;

permitting outgoing beams to pass through and impinge on a target surface while separating and re-directing process laser constituent in the back-reflected light for independent measurement; and

further allowing transmission of desired constituents of back-reflected light to return to an optical surface inspection assembly for measurement of a secondary probe light of interest.

9 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 1 , further comprising:

providing additional probe beam source impinging a region on the target surface for in-situ inspection;

combining and directing collinear probe and process beams onto a target surface;

substantially superimposing probe and process beams focus spots onto the object surface;

providing an additional photo-detector;

collecting and measuring the generated probe and/or process scattered light and/or light reflected in a specular beam off an illuminated spot to analyze the condition of the target spot; and

assessing modifications continually to each target region and controlling predetermined modifications to the next region by automatically adjusting laser pulse intensities of the laser beam.

10 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 9 , wherein the intensity distribution of the focal spot of a process laser beam, comprises a desired profile structure, a flat-top or multi-mode profile, and further wherein the said focus spots are circular, or square, or rectangular, or of a desired shape.

11 . The method recited in claim 9 , wherein sampling of the probe light reflected off of a laser-treated region is temporally synchronized with the process laser pulse to perform in-situ post-laser-modification inspection of a region, or/and to perform in-situ pre-laser-modification inspection of the region, and the method further comprising in-situ adjusting or muting the laser pulse intensity of the at least one ensuing pulse.

12 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 9 wherein laser pulses are directed onto a target surface to modify the surface wherein the surface modification comprises ablating and removing surface contaminants, surface stains, and surface protective or decorative layer(s).

13 . The method for in-situ processing and inspection of an object of claim 9 , wherein focus spots of a process beam and a probe beam on a target surface are spatially separated with minimal overlap or gap, further wherein the focus spots concurrently move on the surface region to region, wherein:

The focused probe spot lags the process spot for in-situ post-process inspection of a treated region, or

The focused probe spot leads the process spot for in-situ pre-process inspection of a target region.

14 . An apparatus, comprising:

a process laser beam source coupled to an optical surface inspection integrated system configured to use in a process and utilized as a probe light beam source for in-situ surface inspection;

an optical reflector component comprising a reflective slab-shape flat mirror with a pass-thru-hole coupled to the optical surface inspection assembly integrated system configured to allow the outgoing laser beam to propagate through the hole and delivery path to a target, while separating, in part, back-scattered laser light reflected off the illuminated region and directing it to the apparatus photo-detector device;

a collection and measurement device coupled to the optical surface inspection integrated system configured to collect and measure the generated scattered laser light and/or laser light reflected in a specular beam off an illuminated spot to analyze the condition of the target spot;

a probe illumination light beam configured to be directed to the optics path for producing a combined and collinear optical light path, wherein the combined and collinear optical light path are focused and delivered at a same region on the surface;

a process laser system coupled to the optical surface inspection integrated system configured to be an energy source for modifying at least one of an optical, mechanical, or chemical property of a first region of the surface; and

wherein focused spots of a process beam and a probe beam on a target surface are spatially separated with minimal overlap or gap, as an example by appropriately deploying a wedge prism component in the optical path of the collinear combined process and probe beams after the focusing lens, and further wherein the focused spots concurrently move on the surface region to region, wherein the focused probe spot lags the process spot for in-situ post-process inspection of a treated region, or the focused probe spot leads the process spot for in-situ pre-process inspection of a target region.

15 . The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein optical surface inspection (OSI), assembly further comprising an optical reflector component configured to allow an outgoing laser beam to transmit through the optical reflector component and delivery path to a target while separating, in part, back-scattered laser light reflected off the illuminated region and directing it to an apparatus photo detector and analyzer device wherein said optical reflector component comprises;

a reflective slab-shape flat mirror with a pass-thru-hole, to allow the outgoing laser beam to propagate through the hole; or

a reflective slab-shape flat mirror with a proper surface coating to efficiently reflect, in part, the back-scattered light, and substantially transmit the outgoing process beam; or

a prism-shaped optical reflector comprising a through-opening and a reflective surface, wherein said reflective surface is a concave, convex, or flat surface.

16 . The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising beam shaping and focusing optics to shape and focus the process laser beam to a focal spot of desired shape, size, and intensity distribution profile on the target surface, wherein,

The beam shaping optics comprises refractive optics; or diffractive optics.

17 . The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a dichroic mirror component comprising a pass-thru opening coupled to the optical surface inspection integrated system configured to permit outgoing beams to pass through and impinge on a target surface while separating and re-directing process laser constituent in the back-reflected light, or constituent scattered light of interest, to an apparatus photo-detector and analyzer device for independent measurement using.

18 . The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising a secondary laser pulse from the process laser configured for emitting a probe light illumination of the first region just before and/or after the process laser pulse ends.

19 . The apparatus of claim 14 , further comprising:

an additional probe beam source impinging a region on the target surface for in-situ inspection;

a combination of at least one collinear probe and at least one process beam directed towards a target surface;

an additional photodetector, wherein a photodetector is a sensor configured to send a current electrical signal to a signal analyzer to measure and determine the laser light intensity; and

collecting and measuring the generated probe and/or process scattered light and/or light reflected in a specular beam off an illuminated spot to analyze the condition of the target spot.