Multiple angle computational wafer inspection

A system for inspecting a surface, comprising:

• an electromagnetic radiation incident on a predetermined region of said surface, with said region having an aspect ratio larger than unity;
• a detector array having an aspect ratio larger than unity positioned to capture an image of scattered radiation originating from said region;
• a processor configured to:
• compute electromagnetic field of said scattered radiation at said detector array by computing the phase of scattered radiation from said image of scattered radiation;
• and compute an image of region by computational propagation of said electromagnetic field through a predetermined distance, wherein computational propagation involves computing either the transfer function or the impulse response of a medium between said surface and said detector array,
• whereby features of said region are captured in said image of region.