Nikon Corporation

Hiromasa Shibata

Manabu Komatsu

Toshio Uchikawa

Koichiro Komatsu

Kazumasa Endo

Akitoshi Kawai

Daisaku Mochida

Toru Yoshikawa

A defect inspecting apparatus inspects defects of a sample having a pattern formed on the surface. The defect inspecting apparatus is provided with a stage which has a sample placed thereon and linearly moves and turns; a light source; an illuminating optical system, which selects a discretionary wavelength region from the light source and epi-illuminates the sample surface through a polarizer and an objective lens; a detecting optical system, which obtains a pupil image, by passing through reflection light applied by the illuminating optical system from the surface of the sample through the objective lens and an analyzer which satisfies the cross-nichols conditions with the polarizer; and a detecting section which detects defects of the sample by comparing the obtained pupil image with a previously stored pupil image. Conformity of the pattern on a substrate to be inspected can be judged in a short time.

Polarized light defect detection in pupil images

To provide a liquid immersion microscope device enabling nondestructive liquid immersion observation of a substrate without deteriorating quality of the substrate. To attain this, a liquid immersion microscope device of the present invention includes a supporting unit supporting a substrate as an observation target, an objective lens of a liquid immersion type, a first supplying unit supplying ultrapure water as a liquid for observation to a gap between a tip of the objective lens and the substrate, a first draining unit draining the liquid for observation after observation of the substrate, a second supplying unit supplying a liquid for cleaning, which is different from the liquid for observation drained by the first draining unit, to an area, of the substrate, that has been in contact with the liquid for observation, and a second draining unit draining the liquid for cleaning after the substrate is cleaned.

Liquid immersion microscope

A microscope apparatus efficiently supplies and collects a liquid for observation by local liquid immersion. The apparatus includes an objective of a liquid immersion system, a discharging member for discharging the liquid between a front edge of the objective and a substrate, and a sucking member for sucking the liquid. Inclined faces are provided respectively in two positions adjacent to the front edge in the periphery of the objective, and protruded portions are provided in positions adjacent to the inclined faces. An aperture portion bounded by the protruded portions and the substrate is formed at the side face. The discharging member includes a tubular member provided on the inclined face for discharging the liquid. The sucking member includes another tubular member for sucking the liquid while taking in air via the aperture portion.

Adaptor for microscope and microscope apparatus (microscope-use adaptor and microscope device)

A microscope includes a microscope optical system that forms an enlarged image of an observation position by an immersion objective lens with an immersion liquid is filled between the observation position and the objective lens, a moving mechanism that moves a state that a first observation position among a plurality of observation positions on a substrate is positioned in a field of view of the microscope to another state that a second observation position is positioned in the field of view of the microscope, an immersion supplier that supplies the immersion liquid to fill between the objective lens and the observation position, an immersion remover that removes the immersion liquid filled between the objective lens and the observation position, and an immersion remove controller that makes the immersion remover remove the immersion liquid before operating the moving mechanism.

Growing community of inventors

Yokohama, Japan

Hiromasa Shibata