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:
Apr. 06, 1999
Filed:
Aug. 21, 1997
Ming-Chiang Li, Mitchellville, MD (US);
Other;
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are inspection methods and inspection apparatus using superbroad radiation. In particular, an embodiment of the present invention is an inspection apparatus which comprises: (a) a source of radiation which outputs superbroad inspection radiation and superbroad reference radiation; (b) an inspection applicator apparatus which applies the inspection radiation as input to the sample; (c) an inspection collection apparatus which collects at least a portion of the inspection radiation that is scattered by the sample and applies at least a portion of the scattered inspection radiation as input to a dispersal apparatus; and (d) a reference collection and delay apparatus which produces a predetermined number of reference radiation outputs having predetermined delays with respect to one another and applies the reference radiation outputs as inputs to the dispersal apparatus; wherein the dispersal apparatus applies radiation from the scattered inspection radiation as input to a coherence processor and applies radiation from the reference radiation outputs as input to the coherence processor.