Defect Inspecting Apparatus and Defect Inspecting Method
AssigneeHitachi High-Techmologies Corporation
InventorsAtsushi Taniguchi, Taketo Ueno, Shunichi Matsumoto, Yukihiro Shibata, Toshifumi Honda
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Abstract
An invention being applied is a defect detecting apparatus that has: an illuminating optical system with a laser light source for irradiating a sample on whose surface a pattern is formed with light; a detecting optical system with a sensor for detecting light generated from the sample illuminated by the illuminating optical system; and a signal processing unit that extracts a defect from an image based on the light detected by the detecting optical system, in which an amplification rate of the sensor is dynamically changed during a time when the light is detected by the detecting optical system.
Claims20
A defect inspecting apparatus, comprising:
- an illuminating optical system having a laser light source for irradiating a sample;
- a detecting optical system having a sensor for detecting light generated from the sample;
- and
- a signal processing unit that extracts a defect from an image generated from the light,
- wherein an amplification rate of the sensor is set based on brightness information from a predetermined image, and
- wherein the amplification rate is dynamically adjusted during a time the light is detected.
A defect inspecting apparatus, comprising:
- an illuminating optical system having a laser light source for irradiating a sample on whose surface a pattern is formed with light;
- a detecting optical system having a sensor for detecting light generated from the sample illuminated by the illuminating optical system;
- and
- a signal processing unit that extracts a defect from an image based on the light detected by the detecting optical system,
- wherein the laser light source is a pulsed light source,
- wherein the sensor switches ON/OFF within a time shorter than a pulse interval of the pulsed light source, and
- wherein an amplification rate of the sensor is dynamically changed during a time when the light is detected by the detecting optical system.
An defect inspecting method, comprising:
- irradiating a sample;
- detecting light generated from the sample;
- and
- extracting a defect from an image generated from the light,
- wherein an amplification of a sensor is set based on brightness information from a predetermined image, and
- wherein the amplification rate is dynamically adjusted during a time the light is detected.
(canceled)
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.