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

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 $mu$m and beyond. An integrated visual servo system is implemented and experimental results are shown.