Qc Optics, Inc.

Abdu Boudour

Sergey V Broude

Eric T Chase

Jay L Ormsby

Carl E Johnson

Nicholas C Allen

Pascal Miller

Lloyd P Quackenbos

David Giroux

An improved high sensitivity optical inspection system for detecting flaws on a diffractive surface containing surface patterns includes: a first and a second illumination means for illuminating predetermined regions on the diffractive surface to generate a scattered intensity distribution in response to either a flaw or a surface pattern; means for detecting the intensity level of the scattered intensity distribution at a plurality of locations about the diffractive surface; means for establishing a minimum detected intensity level; means, responsive to the minimum detected intensity level, for indicating the absence of a flaw on the illuminated region of the diffractive surface when the minimum detected intensity level is below a threshold intensity level and for indicating the presence of a flaw on the illuminated region of the diffractive surface when the minimum detected intensity level exceeds the threshold intensity level; and means for moving the diffractive surface to generate a scan pattern on the diffractive surface to inspect the entire surface.

High sensitivity optical inspection system and method for detecting flaws on a diffractive surface

An inspection system and an inspection method, the method including detecting flaws on a surface, determining the size, count, and position of flaws on the surface, providing a representation of the detected flaws by size, count, and position on a display, setting a display threshold value which is a function of a number of particles of a particular size to be displayed on the display, determining when the display threshold is breached and in response adjusting the display to cease displaying those flaws, storing at least one inspection threshold value, and determining when the inspection threshold value is breached and in response outputting an inspection interrupt signal to stop the inspection after the inspection threshold value is breached.

Multistation surface inspection system

A pellicle reflectivity monitoring system comprising a radiation source for directing radiation through a pellicle to an object to be inspected, a sensor device positioned to receive the portion of the radiation reflected by the pellicle, a processor, responsive to the sensor device, for determining the intensity of the portion of the radiation reflected by the pellicle, and a lens assembly, positioned in an optical path between the pellicle and the sensor device, for directing the portion of the radiation reflected by pellicles of different heights onto the sensor device. A comparator device compares the intensity of the radiation directed at the object to be inspected with the intensity of the portion of the radiation reflected by the pellicle and outputs a correction factor based on the comparison in order to compensate for the portion of the radiation reflected by the pellicle.

Pellicle reflectivity monitoring system having means for compensating

A plate holder for a plate surface inspection system, the plate holder including a plate holder body and a calibration plate integral with the plate holder body thereby eliminating the need to load a separate special calibration plate in the plate holder each time the surface inspection system needs to be calibrated.

Plate holder for a surface inspection system

An improved optical inspection system for detecting flaws on a diffractive surface containing surface patterns includes: an ultraviolet illumination means for illuminating a region on the diffractive surface to generate a scattered intensity distribution in response to either a flaw or a surface pattern; means for detecting the intensity level of the scattered intensity distribution at a plurality of locations about the diffractive surface; means for establishing a minimum detected intensity level; means, responsive to the minimum detected intensity level, for indicating the absence of a flaw on the illuminated region of the diffractive surface when the minimum detected intensity level is below a threshold intensity level and for indicating the presence of a flaw on the illuminated region of the diffractive surface when the minimum detected intensity level exceeds the threshold intensity level; and means for moving the diffractive surface to generate a scan pattern on the diffractive surface to inspect the entire surface.

Optical inspection system and method for detecting flaws on a

A system for processing particle size and position data for a surface under inspection, the system including an air spindle for rotating and a translation stage for translating the surface with respect to a beam of radiation used to detect particles on the surface; a rotational encoder for dividing the surface into a number N of angular vectors; a counter of counting the number of revolutions of the surface; a processor for collecting particle size and position data at each angular vector during each revolution; first and second FIFO memories having at least N address spaces, each address space allocated for a specific angular vector; and a routine for writing the collected particle size and position data to the first memory and for reading particle size and position data from the second memory and switching memories every M revolutions. The FIFO memories are programmed to store only the greater of stored size data and incoming size data.

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West Newton, MA, United States of America

Abdu Boudour