Illumination system, inspection tool with illumination system, and method of operating an illumination system

An inspection tool, comprising:

• a camera, arranged in an imaging optical axis of an imaging beam path;
• an imaging lens positioned in the imaging beam path for imaging at least a portion of a surface of an object into an image plane of the camera;
• an illumination system with a configurable area light source, wherein the configurable area light source is arranged in an illumination optical axis of an illumination beam path and the configurable area light source is configured such that different beam shapes are settable between a first shape and a second shape in real-time wherein the first shape is different from the second shape;
• at least one illumination lens positioned in the illumination beam path for directing a collimated beam onto a field of view on the surface of the object, wherein a value of an angle of incidence of the illumination optical axis of the illumination beam path equals a value of an angle of reflectance of an imaging optical axis of the imaging beam path;
• a beam splitter positioned in the illumination beam path after the at least one illumination lens:
• a mirror;
• and,
• a holder,
• wherein the beam splitter is mounted in the holder and the mirror is mounted to the holder such that light emitted from the configurable area light source is directed from the mirror to the at least one illumination lens.

A method for inspecting an object, comprising:

• (a) directing illumination light, the illumination light defining a light beam opening angle, from a configurable area light source via a mirror mounted to a holder to an illumination lens along an illumination beam path, through a beam splitter mounted in the holder, onto a surface of an object;
• (b) directing reflected light from the surface of the object along an imaging beam path;
• (c) imaging the reflected light from the surface of the object with an imaging lens onto an image plane of a camera;
• (d) changing the shape of the illumination light from a first shape to a second shape wherein the first shape is different from the second shape;
• (e) repeating the steps a-d;
• and
• (f) generating a field of view on the surface of the object in real time images with the first shape and the second shape, respectively.

An illumination system for collimated illumination, comprising:

• a configurable area light source arranged in an illumination optical axis of an illumination beam path, wherein the configurable area light source is configured such that different beam shapes are settable between a first shape and a second shape in real-time wherein the first shape is different from the second shape;
• a beam splitter is positioned in the illumination beam path after the at least one illumination lens, wherein the beam splitter directs collimated illumination light from the configurable area light source along a redirected illumination optical axis of the illumination beam path onto a surface of an object and an imaging optical axis of the imaging beam path is coaxial with the redirected optical axis of the illumination beam path;
• at least one illumination lens positioned in the illumination beam path for directing a collimated beam onto a field of view on the surface of the object, wherein a value of an angle of incidence of the optical axis of the illumination beam path equals a value of an angle of reflectance of the optical axis of the imaging beam path;
• a mirror;
• and,
• a holder,
• wherein the beam splitter is mounted in the holder and the mirror is mounted to the holder such that light emitted from the configurable area light source is directed from the mirror to the at least one illumination lens.