The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Nov. 13, 2018
Filed:
Sep. 10, 2015
Asml Netherlands B.v., Veldhoven, NL;
Gerbrand Van Der Zouw, Waalre, NL;
ASML Netherlands B.V., Veldhoven, NL;
Abstract
An inspection apparatus comprises an illumination system () for illuminating a target structure with illuminating radiation and a collection system for collecting the illuminating radiation after it has been scattered by the target structure. A programmable spatial light modulator () comprises an array of movable mirror elements () in a conjugate pupil plane (P″) of the illumination system. Between the array of mirror elements and the target a common optical path is defined forming part of the illumination system and the collection system. Each mirror element is movable between a first position where it reflects illuminating radiation into the common optical path and a second position where it reflects radiation from the common optical path toward a detector (). Various combinations of illumination aperture and collection aperture can be defined without the light losses associated with beam splitters and transmissive spatial light modulators.