Method for detecting surface defects on a substrate and device using said method

1. A method for detecting surface defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, the method comprising:

projecting a pattern composed of an alternation of light fringes and dark bands on the substrate, so as to generate fringes reflected by the surface of the substrate;

relatively displacing the pattern and the substrate along at least one direction, so as to displace the fringes of the pattern on the substrate, wherein the fringes of the pattern are parallel to each other and extend parallel to a second principal crystalline axis of the substrate;

acquiring a sequence of at least three images of the pattern reflected by the substrate by a sensor, the images corresponding to displacement of the fringes of the pattern;

determining the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of fringes of the pattern, and

determining the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate.

2. A method for detecting surface defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, the method comprising:

projecting a pattern composed of an alternation of light fringes and dark bands on the substrate, so as to generate fringes reflected by the surface of the substrate;

relatively displacing the pattern and the substrate along at least one direction, so as to displace the fringes of the pattern on the substrate, wherein the fringes of the pattern are parallel to each other and extend parallel to a second principal crystalline axis of the substrate;

acquiring a sequence of at least three images of the pattern reflected by the substrate by a sensor, the images corresponding to displacement of the fringes of the pattern;

determining the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of fringes of the pattern, and

determining the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate.

3. A method for detecting surface defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, the method comprising:

projecting a pattern composed of an alternation of light fringes and dark bands on the substrate, so as to generate fringes reflected by the surface of the substrate;

relatively displacing the pattern and the substrate along at least one direction, so as to displace the fringes of the pattern on the substrate;

acquiring a sequence of at least three images of the pattern reflected by the substrate by a sensor, the images corresponding to displacement of the fringes of the pattern, wherein a first sequence of images is acquired by projecting a pattern for which the fringes are parallel to each other and extend parallel to the principal crystalline axis of the substrate, said fringes being displaced along a direction perpendicular to the direction of the fringes, and a second sequence of images is acquired by projecting a pattern for which the fringes are parallel to each other and extend parallel to the second principal crystalline axis of the substrate, said fringes being displaced orthogonally to the direction of said fringes;

determining the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of fringes of the pattern, and

determining the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the position in space of defects determined from variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the position in space of the defects is determined by determining the points on the surface of the substrate with a radius of curvature greater than or equal to a given threshold value and/or with a spatial distribution statistically different from the average for the substrate.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the position in space of defects is determined using a reference point on the substrate.

7. A method for detecting surface defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, the method comprising:

projecting a pattern composed of an alternation of light fringes and dark bands on the substrate, so as to generate fringes reflected by the surface of the substrate, wherein the substrate consists of a flat disk comprising a radial notch around its periphery, forming the reference point;

relatively displacing the pattern and the substrate along at least one direction, so as to displace the fringes of the pattern on the substrate;

acquiring a sequence of at least three images of the pattern reflected by the substrate by a sensor, the images corresponding to displacement of the fringes of the pattern;

determining the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of fringes of the pattern;

determining the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate; and

determining the position in space of defects determined from variations in the gradient of the surface of the substrate, wherein the position in space of the defects is determined by determining the points on the surface of the substrate with a radius of curvature greater than or equal to a given threshold value and/or with a spatial distribution statistically different from the average for the substrate.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the nature of the detected surface defects.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the nature of surface defects is determined by determining the amplitude and/or the length and/or shape and/or orientation of each detected surface defect.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pattern and/or the substrate is moved along two orthogonal directions.

11. A device for the detection of surface defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, comprising:

means of projecting a pattern on said substrate composed of an alternation of continuous light fringes and dark bands;

means of introducing relative displacement of the pattern and the substrate along at least one direction, at least one sensor capable of recording displacements of fringes reflected by the substrate;

means of determining the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of the fringes of the pattern;

means of determining the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the substrate surface; and

means of generating a laminar flow of a fluid parallel to the surface of the substrate.

12. The device of claim 11 , wherein the means of projecting the pattern consist of a screen on which an image is displayed comprising a sequence of light fringes and dark bands.

13. The device of claim 12 , wherein the means of relative displacement of the pattern and the substrate consist of an algorithm for processing the video signal transmitted to the screen so as to offset the light fringes and dark bands, the offset being between half a pixel and several pixels, at regular or irregular time intervals, the screen, the substrate and the sensor being fixed.

14. The device of claim 11 , wherein the sensor consists of a digital camera comprising a CCD sensor.

15. The device of claim 11 , wherein the means of determining the gradient and/or a curvature of the surface of the substrate consist of an algorithm capable of calculating the phase offset of the fringes of the pattern at each point on the surface of the substrate using the signal transmitted by the sensor.

16. The device of claim 15 , wherein the means of determining the presence of a surface defect consist of a second algorithm capable of calculating variations in the gradient and/or curvature at each point on the surface of the substrate using phase offsets calculated by the first algorithm.

17. The device of claim 11 further comprising means of determining the position in space of defects on the surface of the substrate.

18. A device for the detection of surface defects, on a substrate designed to be used in electronics, optoelectronics or analogue, comprising:

means of projecting a pattern on said substrate composed of an alternation of continuous light fringes and dark bands;

means of introducing relative displacement of the pattern and the substrate along at least one direction, at least one sensor capable of recording displacements of fringes reflected by the substrate;

means of determining the gradient of the surface of the substrate using displacements of the fringes of the pattern;

means of determining the presence of a surface defect on the substrate using variations in the gradient of the substrate surface; and

means of determining the position in space of defects on the surface of the substrate, wherein said means of determining the position in space of defects consist of an algorithm capable of calculating the abscissa and the ordinate of the substrate of each point on the surface of said substrate with a radius of curvature greater than or equal to a determined threshold value and/or with a spatial distribution statistically different from the average of the substrate, relative to a reference point on the substrate.

19. The device of claim 11 further comprising means of supporting said substrate vertically.