JPH0416935Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to an ultrasound microscope that can direct an acoustic lens to a location on a sample that corresponds to a desired location in an ultrasound microscope image. In detail, at such a desired location, an ultrasonic microscope image may be obtained again, or information specific to the sample may be obtained at that location on the sample.
- To provide an ultrasonic microscope capable of obtaining Z curves, etc.

[Prior art]

FIG. 1 is a sketch of a conventional general ultrasound microscope, and FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing an example of its signal processing circuit. In FIG. 1, 1 is an eyepiece lens, and 2 is a lens barrel. An objective lens 3 is disposed in the lens barrel 2 facing a stage 4 so as to cooperate with the eyepiece 1 to constitute an optical system of an optical microscope. This optical system is supported by mirror legs 5. The stage 4 is supported by a stage moving device 6 for moving it in the Y-axis direction.

On the other hand, a goniometer 7 is placed on the stage 4, as shown in FIG. 2, and a sample holding table 8 is provided on the top surface of the goniometer 7. Although not shown in FIG. 1, an acoustic lens 9 (see FIG. 2) is disposed in place of the objective lens 3 of the optical microscope, and is arranged to replace the objective lens 3 of the optical microscope. This is set using the optical microscope, and the acoustic lens 9 can be directed to this set location.
Further, the acoustic lens 9 is supported by a vibrator 10 so as to be vibrated in the X-axis direction, as shown in FIG. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 1, a light source 11 for epi-illumination, a television image monitor 12 for displaying ultrasound images, an X-Y monitor 13, an operation console 14, etc. are provided.

The acoustic lens 9 shown in FIG. 2 receives one-dimensional vibration from the vibrator 10 and vibrates in the X-axis direction. On the other hand, the stage 4 is gradually moved in the Y-axis direction by the stage moving device 6. The sample 15 is placed on the sample holder 8, with the surface kept perpendicular to the acoustic lens 9 by the goniometer 7.
The vibration of the acoustic lens 9 in the X-axis direction by the vibrator 10 and the vibration of the sample 1 by the stage moving device 6
5 in the Y-axis direction, the acoustic lens 9
It is scanned two-dimensionally by an ultrasonic beam from. In order to achieve acoustic matching between the acoustic lens 9 and the sample 15, an ultrasonic transmission medium 16, such as water, is inserted between the acoustic lens 9 and the sample 15.

As is well known, in an ultrasonic microscope, a sample 15 is two-dimensionally scanned by ultrasonic waves, and reflected waves or transmitted waves obtained are received, and generally, the amplitude of the received signal is converted into a television signal with brightness. The image is converted and displayed as an ultrasound image on a television image monitor. A signal processing method for this purpose will be briefly explained with reference to FIG.

A burst-like high-frequency pulse signal is generated from a high-frequency generator 18 in synchronization with the control signal from the control circuit 17, and is applied to the piezoelectric transducer 20 via a circulator 19, corresponding to the burst frequency of the burst-like high-frequency pulse signal. converted into ultrasonic waves. This ultrasonic wave is turned into a spot by the acoustic lens 9 and irradiates the sample 15, and its reflected wave is received by the piezoelectric transducer 20 through the acoustic lens 9 again and converted into an electric signal. This received signal contains illegal unnecessary signals such as ultrasonic waves reflected within the acoustic lens 9 and burst-like high-frequency pulse signals leaked from the circulator 19, so they are guided to the gate circuit 21 and sent to the control circuit. By using a gate signal having a predetermined timing from the sample 17, only the received signal corresponding to the direct reflected wave from the sample 15 is extracted. This is amplified by a high frequency amplification circuit 22, guided to a mixing circuit 23, mixed with a local oscillation frequency signal from a local oscillator 24, and converted into an intermediate frequency signal. This intermediate frequency signal is sent to the detection circuit 2 via the intermediate frequency amplification circuit 25.
6, and after being subjected to envelope detection here, is input to the blanking circuit 27, and only the received signal corresponding to the direct reflected wave from the sample 15 is extracted by a gate signal having the same timing as the gate signal. The peak detection circuit 28 performs peak detection. The detection output signals obtained in this way are sequentially guided to the scan converter 29, and a synchronization information signal related to the X-axis scanning period from the vibrator 10 and a synchronization information signal related to the Y-axis scanning period from the stage moving device 6 are sent to the scan converter 29. An X deflection signal generation circuit 30 and a Y deflection signal generation circuit 3 each driven by an information signal.
Each deflection signal from 1 is sequentially temporarily stored in a predetermined location in the memory in the scan converter 29. This is read out continuously in accordance with the television scanning period, and synchronization information is added to convert it into a television signal, which is then supplied to the television image monitor 12 for image reproduction to obtain an ultrasound microscope image. There is. Various operations for obtaining an ultrasound image in this manner, such as adjustments to scan width and contrast, can be performed manually using adjustment knobs provided on the console 14.

[The problem that the idea aims to solve]

As explained above, with conventional ultrasound microscopes,
There are devices in which the observation point of the sample is set in advance using an optical microscope, and an ultrasonic microscope image corresponding to this point can be obtained.

However, when we obtained ultrasound microscopic images,
Cracks that cannot be identified in optical microscope images,
Image parts unique to the ultrasonic microscope that show the structure and properties of the sample are found, and it becomes necessary to direct the acoustic lens 9 to those parts again.

In order to meet the above expectations, the purpose of the present invention is to display an ultrasonic microscope image, redirect the acoustic lens to a desired location within the displayed ultrasonic microscope image, and then point the acoustic lens at the desired location. The object of the present invention is to provide an ultrasonic microscope that can obtain an ultrasonic microscope image centered on the sample or display a VZ curve at a desired location, thereby obtaining a wealth of information about the sample.

[Means to solve the problem]

The ultrasonic microscope of the present invention scans a sample two-dimensionally using ultrasonic waves from an acoustic lens, receives and detects the ultrasonic waves modulated by the sample, and uses the signal obtained as luminance information to create an ultrasonic microscope image. In an ultrasound microscope configured to display, a position specifying means for selecting and specifying an arbitrary coordinate position on the ultrasound microscope image displayed as the brightness information, and position information on the sample surface corresponding to the coordinate position; Then, there is a device characterized by being equipped with a position control means for relatively moving the acoustic lens and the sample holding table.

〔Example〕

FIG. 3 is a sketch showing an example of an ultrasonic microscope embodying the present invention. Except for the display panel 32 and the operation console 33, the structure is similar to that of the conventional ultrasonic microscope shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, except for some parts to be described later. Therefore, the same parts as those in FIG. 1 are designated by the same reference numerals, and their explanation will be omitted.

The display panel 32 in this embodiment has a new V-Z curve display monitor 34 as shown in the figure.
is provided along with a television image monitor 12 and an X-Y monitor 13 for displaying ultrasound images, similar to conventional ones. In addition to various operation buttons and regulators for obtaining ultrasonic images, the operation console 33 also includes a joystick 35, which is a new feature of the present invention, and a controller for starting and completing V-Z characteristic measurements. A V-Z curve operation button 36 is provided.

FIG. 4 shows a microscope portion in the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIG. In the figure, 37 is a Z-axis moving device for moving the stage 4 in the Z-axis direction, which has a built-in position sensor for detecting the moving distance in the Z-axis direction and is configured to be automatically controlled by a control signal. In addition, manual adjustment is also possible using a Z-axis operating knob 38. A position sensor 39 for detecting the amount of movement of the stage 4 in the Y-axis direction is attached near the stage moving device 6. Although not shown in FIG. 4, a position sensor 40 is also provided to similarly detect the amount of movement of the acoustic lens 9 in the X-axis direction by the vibrator 10.

On the other hand, the relative position of the sample 15 on the sample holder 8 and the acoustic lens 9 is determined by an X-axis position signal and a Y-axis position signal, which will be described later.
In order to move the acoustic lens 9 so as to direct it to the position on the sample 15 corresponding to both of the axial position signals, the position signals are sent to the vibrator 10 (see FIG. 2) and the stage moving device 6. By adding , the configuration is such that the acoustic lens 9 can be moved in the X direction and the stage 4 can be moved in the Y direction. The other configuration is the same as that in FIG. 2, and the ultrasonic image can be observed by the television image monitor 12 provided on the display panel 32 in FIG. The means for forming the image are exactly the same as in FIG. 2, so a description thereof will be omitted.

In the present invention, after the sample 15 is two-dimensionally scanned by ultrasonic waves to obtain an ultrasonic image on the television image monitor 12, an ultrasonic image is obtained on the television image monitor 12 using the joystick 35 shown in FIG. On the ultrasonic image, select the center position of the ultrasonic microscope image that you want to obtain again or the position where you want to obtain the VZ curve. That is, by operating the joystick 35, an X-axis signal and a Y-axis signal are generated that represent the coordinates of a desired position on the image plane with the display screen on the television image monitor 12 as the first quadrant plane according to orthogonal coordinate axes; The configuration is such that a cursor can be displayed at a desired position on the ultrasound image using these signals. In addition,
Any well-known joystick and cursor display device may be used to generate the X-axis signal and Y-axis signal corresponding to such a desired coordinate position.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of a processing circuit for the X-axis signal and Y-axis signal obtained as described above. That is, joystick 35
The X-axis signal and Y-axis signal generated from the
1, it is converted into a digital value and then led to the cursor display device 42, where it is converted into a cursor signal.
The scan converter 2 shown in FIG.
It is superimposed on the output of 9. Therefore, a desired position on the television image monitor 12 can be selected and specified with the cursor by operating the joystick 35.

Further, at the same time, the other of the divided X-axis signal and Y-axis signal is input to comparators 43 and 44,
Here, the X-axis signal is a detection signal from the X-axis direction position sensor 40 of the acoustic lens 9 provided in the vibrator 10,
The Y-axis signals are each compared with a detection signal from a Y-axis position sensor 39 provided to detect the position of the stage 4 on which the sample holding table 8 is placed in the Y-axis direction. The comparison output signals obtained from each of these comparators 43 and 44 are transmitted to the joystick 35.
This corresponds to the positional difference between the X-axis signal and Y-axis signal representing the coordinate position specified by and the relative position of the acoustic lens 9 with respect to the specified position of the sample 15. The comparison output signals obtained in this way are guided to the vibrator 10 and the stage moving device 6 as an X-axis position signal and a Y-axis position signal, and the acoustic lens is By controlling the movement of the acoustic lens 9 in the X-axis direction and the stage 4 in the Y-axis direction, the acoustic lens 9 will face the selected position on the sample 15 on the ultrasound image.
In addition, in the figure, 45 indicates a power amplifier.

Next, the operation of obtaining a VZ curve at a desired position will be explained.

Note that a description of the ultrasonic image and how it is obtained will be omitted.

By operating the V-Z curve operation button indicated by 35 in FIG. 3, the distance in the Z-axis direction between the sample 15 and the acoustic lens 9 can be set to zero value and gradually , the output of the peak detection circuit 27 shown in FIG. 2 is plotted at each appropriate distance, and the data obtained for each plot is stored together with the distance. , the V-Z characteristic automatic measuring device configured to graphically display a V-Z curve on the V-Z curve display monitor 34 is activated, and its operation is canceled by a second operation.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an example of the automatic measuring device. In the same figure,
46 is a Z-axis signal input terminal from a position sensor provided in the Z-axis moving device 37 so as to obtain an output corresponding to the amount of movement of the stage 4 from the reference position in the Z-axis direction. Also, 47 is a scan converter 28
This is an input terminal for receiving the peak detection output signal of the received signal of the acoustic lens 9 which is input to the acoustic lens 9. These signals are sent to A/D converters 48 and 49, respectively.
is converted into a digital signal and stored in the memory 50. The stored Z-axis signal and peak detection output signal are read out in synchronization with the X-axis sweep cycle on the V-Z curve display monitor 34, and converted into analog signals by the D/A converters 51 and 52, For example, by adding the V-Z curve to the Y-axis and X-axis of the V-Z curve display monitor 34 using a cathode ray tube, the V-Z
It is configured so that curves are displayed graphically. Therefore, the user must use the joystick 35 of the operation console 33.
After specifying the coordinate position where you want to obtain a V-Z curve on the ultrasound image on the television image monitor 12 by operating the V-Z curve operation button 36, the V-Z curve is displayed. The VZ curve at the specified position on the sample 15 is obtained on the monitor 34, and can be observed simultaneously with the ultrasound image.

Next, specify multiple desired positions on the sample, encode those points, temporarily store the coordinate values, and sequentially move the acoustic lens to those points.
A configuration for obtaining ultrasound microscopic images and VZ curves at these points will be shown.

FIG. 7 shows another example of the present invention in which a plurality of positions on the sample, for example two positions, are specified, the acoustic lens is moved, and the results are displayed on separate V-Z curve display monitors 34, 34'. FIG. 2 is a sketch mainly showing only the display panel 53 and operation console portion in the embodiment. On the operation console 54, there are joysticks 35, 3, which constitute a part of the means for selecting and specifying the desired position of the sample as explained in FIGS. 3 to 5.
As shown at 5', two joysticks are provided, and V-Z
Curve operation buttons 36 and 36' are provided, respectively. These joysticks 35, 35' are constructed so that they can be operated independently, and correspond to the individual joysticks 35, 35'.

After selecting and specifying different coordinate positions on the television image monitor 12 by operating the respective joysticks 35 and 35', the V-Z curve operation button attached to each of the joysticks 35 and 35' is pressed. By operating 36, 36' at appropriate time intervals, the acoustic lens can be sequentially moved to different selected positions on the sample 15. Furthermore, the V-Z characteristics are automatically measured using the same method as in the previous embodiment, and the data obtained is displayed on the V-Z curve display monitors 34 and 34'.
- The structure is such that it can be graphically displayed using a Z curve. Therefore, the two joysticks 35, 35'
, select and specify two locations on the ultrasound image where you want to obtain a V-Z curve, and press the V-Z curve operation buttons 36, 3.
By sequentially operating the V-Z curves 6', the V-Z curves at those desired positions of the sample 15 can be displayed on each V-Z curve display monitor 34, 34'.

In each of the above-mentioned embodiments, as a position specifying means for selecting and specifying an arbitrary coordinate position on an ultrasound microscope image displayed as brightness information, a joystick is used as a component to move a cursor on a television image monitor. However, the sample surface can be adjusted by digitally moving the cursor on the television image monitor, stopping it at a desired position, and finding the address on the television image monitor at that position, without using the joystick. In the same way as shown in FIG. 5, information regarding the position of the acoustic lens obtained from each position sensor in the X-axis direction of the vibrator 10 and the Y-axis direction of the stage 4 is detected. In contrast, the acoustic lens may be directed to the desired position on the sample, and the cursor may be moved by a cursor operation button in this case. still,
When specifying multiple locations, the specification may be repeated using one joystick.

[Effects of this invention]

As is clear from the above description, the present invention allows a conventional ultrasound microscope to be used at any desired position on a sample in order to obtain information on characteristic image parts that are observed for the first time in an ultrasound microscope image once obtained. The present invention provides an ultrasonic microscope with an added function of directing an acoustic lens to the desired position. Obtaining ultrasonic microscope images and data again at such a desired position is a major feature of observing areas that cannot be seen with an optical microscope. Therefore, it is an indispensable operation for ultrasonic microscopy, and in the case of ultrasonic microscope images, the latter image is more effective than the simultaneous use of operations that increase image magnification, and in the field of ultrasonic microscopy, The automation of image-related data display, which is required to lead to the operation of obtaining the V-Z curve, is also very effective.

Furthermore, being able to perform similar operations on a plurality of different locations on the same sample is extremely effective when it is desired to record the correlation between each ultrasonic microscope image and perform detailed analysis of the sample.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is a sketch of a conventional general ultrasound microscope, Figure 2 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of a signal processing circuit, and Figure 3 is an example of an ultrasound microscope implementing the present invention. The sketch diagram, Figure 4, shows
A configuration diagram of a microscope part in an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 5 shows the position where you want to take the V-Z curve of the sample.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing an example of a signal processing circuit for directing an acoustic lens. FIG. 6 is a block diagram showing a schematic configuration of an example of a VZ characteristic measurement and display circuit. FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing an example of a VZ characteristic measurement and display circuit. FIG. 7 is a sketch mainly showing only the display panel and operation console portions in another embodiment. 4... Stage, 6... Stage moving device, 7
... Goniometer, 8 ... Sample holding table, 9 ... Acoustic lens, 10 ... Vibrator, 12 ... Television image monitor for displaying ultrasound images, 13 ... X-Y monitor, 32, 53 ... Display panel, 33, 54...
...Operation console, 34,34'...V-Z curve display monitor, 35,35'...Joystick, 36,3
6'...V-Z curve operation button, 37...Z-axis moving device, 38...Z-axis operation knob, 39, 40...
...Position sensor, 41, 48, 49...A/D converter, 42...Cursor display device, 43, 44...
Comparator, 45...Power amplifier, 46...Z-axis signal input terminal, 47...Detection output signal input terminal, 50
...Memory, 51, 52...D/A converter.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claim for Utility Model Registration] (1) Two-dimensionally scanning a sample with ultrasound, receiving and detecting the ultrasound modulated by the sample, and using the signal obtained as luminance information to create an ultrasound microscope image. In an ultrasound microscope configured to display, a position specifying means for selecting and specifying an arbitrary coordinate position on the ultrasound microscope image displayed as the brightness information, and position information on the sample surface corresponding to the coordinate position; 1. An ultrasonic microscope comprising: position control means for relatively moving an acoustic lens and a sample holder based on the position of the acoustic lens; (2) The ultrasonic microscope according to claim 1, wherein the position specifying means is configured to be able to specify coordinate positions at a plurality of locations on an ultrasonic microscope image. (3) The position specifying means is configured to select and specify an arbitrary coordinate position on the ultrasound microscope image using a joystick, and information on the coordinate position obtained by the operation of the joystick. The ultrasonic microscope according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the ultrasonic microscope is configured to control the position control means based on the following.