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:
Feb. 13, 2001
Filed:
Feb. 04, 1998
Yoshiharu Saito, Hachioji, JP;
Hiroyuki Nishida, Hachioji, JP;
Olympus Optical Co., Ltd., Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The invention relates to a confocal microscope which has high resolving power and a great focal depth and is capable of observing a sample in real time, so that a fine stereoscopic structure of a highly integrated IC or the like can be inspected, and provides a confocal microscope in which a pinhole substrate,having a plurality of pinholes, located at a position of an image formed by an objective,is illuminated by light coming from a light source,to focus light passing through pinhole substrate,onto a sample,by objective,so that an image is formed thereon, light reflected at sample,is again focused onto pinhole substrate,through objective,to form an image thereon, light passing through pinhole substrate,is focused by a relay lens,or the like to re-form an image in the form of a sample image, and sample,is scanned with light by high-speed rotation of pinhole substrate,to obtain a reconstructed image of sample,wherein a longitudinal chromatic aberration-producing optical element,is located between pinhole substrate,and sample