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:
Jan. 11, 2000
Filed:
Aug. 21, 1997
Ming-Chiang Li, Mitchellville, MD (US);
Other;
Abstract
Embodiments of the present invention are inspection methods and inspection apparatus for high speed, high precision inspection using parallel processing. In particular, an embodiment of a first aspect of the present invention is an inspection apparatus for inspecting a sample that uses parallel processing and which comprises: (a) a source of radiation which outputs superbroad inspection radiation having a frequency spectrum with an inspection width and reference radiation; (b) an inspection applicator apparatus which applies the inspection radiation as input to the sample; (c) an inspection collector 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; (d) wherein the dispersal apparatus applies radiation from the scattered inspection radiation as input to a plurality of coherence processors and applies radiation from the reference radiation as input to the plurality of coherence processors; and (e) a processor that fourier analyzes outputs from the coherence processors.