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:
Oct. 15, 1996
Filed:
Nov. 04, 1994
Applicant:
Inventor:
Kenneth P Gross, San Carlos, CA (US);
Assignee:
Tencor Instruments, Mountain View, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Assistant Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01N / ; G01N / ; G01B / ;
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
356237 ; 356431 ; 356398 ;
Abstract
An apparatus and method for inspecting a substrate, such as a semiconductor wafer, includes crossed cylindrical optical elements that form an elliptical beam that is caused to scan in parallel fashion at an oblique angle to the substrate. Preferably, the smaller dimension of the elliptical beam is perpendicular to the direction of the scan of the beam across the wafer. A reflector converts an angularly varying beam to a telecentrically scanning beam and also provides focusing only in the direction parallel to the telecentric scan. On the other hand, a cylinder lens has a focusing power only in the direction perpendicular to the telecentric scanning.