Method and device for optically examining structured surfaces of objects

An apparatus for microscopic optical examination of a structured surface of an object, said apparatus comprising:

• means for simultaneously illuminating the surface of the object in bright field and dark field with a plurality of illuminating beams in order to generate different images of the object;
• an optical device associated with one of the illuminating beams for distinguishing the beam according to at least one property selected from the group consisting of color and polarization;
• a filter for separating the light from the object according to the different illuminating beams, and
• a detector for detecting the different lights of the object or for separately evaluating different images of the object;
• wherein a common incident light source is provided for bright field and dark field illumination and the device for distinguishing the illuminating beams is arranged in an aperture diaphragm plane of the illuminating beam path, and
• wherein the means for simultaneously illuminating the surface of the object includes an objective lens serving for the bright field illumination of the object and a coaxially arranged light reflecting means serving for the dark field illumination of the object, the objective lens collecting both of the different lights of the object or the different images of the object.