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:
Jun. 15, 1999
Filed:
Jun. 30, 1997
Akihiko Sekine, Tokyo, JP;
Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A surface inspection apparatus comprises a light source, a scan optical system having a scanning means for scanning a wafer surface in a direction of crossing the wafer by luminous flux from the light source, a moving unit for moving the wafer relatively in a direction of a prescribed angle with respect to the scanning direction, a light receiving unit having a photoelectric converter for receiving scattered lights from the wafer surface, and a signal processing unit performing the the surface inspection based on signals from the light receiving unit. The scanning means is controlled to scan the luminous flux forward and rearward. The signal processing unit performs the surface inspection based on signals of the light receiving unit in a region excluding a transition area where scan is performed from the outside of the wafer to the wafer within a forward and rearward scan region by the scanning means.