Visual Servo Control Achieving Nanometer Resolution in $X$ – $Y$ –

This paper presents a three-axis vision motion sensor and its applications to visual servo control. The vision sensor is integrated with a three-axis piezo stage to form a visual servo control system that achieves nanometer resolution in all three x- y-z motion axes. Motion measurement is achieved using a single interferometer-equipped optical microscope. A real-time image-processing algorithm that processes interference fringe patterns and that achieves nanometer out-of-plane resolution is presented. Furthermore, a feedback-control scheme is introduced to control the sensor plane using an Objective-Z-Positioner to enable automatic tracking of moving objects. It expands the out-of-plane measurement range of the vision sensor beyond its inherent depth of field of several micrometers to 100 mum and beyond. An integrated visual servo system is implemented and experimental results are shown.