Method and apparatus for processing the image data of the surface of a wafer recorded by at least one camera

An apparatus for processing image data of the surface of a wafer recorded by at least one camera, comprising:

• means for creating a relative movement between the wafer and the at least one camera;
• an image field is assigned to each camera, wherein said image field of each camera is adapted in such a way that the recorded image content of said image field is repeated after N recorded images, wherein N is equal to or greater than two;
• an evaluation electronics with M utility programs, wherein M is equal to the number of recorded images after which the image content of the image fields is repeated, and in that the number M of utility programs is adapted to the number N of images, in that each of the M utility programs only receives images from the plurality of recorded images having the same image content of the image fields, in order to detect defects on the basis of the image content of the image fields of the images of the surface of the wafer;
• and
• a central program which sequentially receives the individual results of the M utility programs and compiles a distribution of the defects present on the surface of the wafer from the individual results of the M utility programs.

An apparatus for processing image data of the surface of a wafer, comprising:

• a camera for recording the image data;
• a scanning stage, at least one of the scanning stage and the camera being movable for creating a relative movement between the wafer and the at least one camera;
• an image field is assigned to each camera, wherein said image field of each camera is adapted in such a way that the recorded image content of said image field is repeated after N recorded images, wherein N is equal to or greater than two;
• an evaluation electronics with M utility programs, wherein M is equal to the number of recorded images after which the image content of the image fields is repeated, and in that the number M of utility programs is adapted to the number N of images, in that each of the M utility programs only receives images from the plurality of recorded images having the same image content of the image fields, in order to detect defects on the basis of the image content of the image fields of the images of the surface of the wafer;
• and
• a central program which sequentially receives the individual results of the M utility programs and compiles a distribution of the defects present on the surface of the wafer from the individual results of the M utility programs.