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:
Mar. 20, 2001
Filed:
Apr. 02, 1999
Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
An apparatus for surface inspection according to the invention comprises an irradiating optical system for throwing an irradiating light beam from a light source onto the surface of an object of inspection, a light receiving optical system for receiving a scattered light beam reflected from the surface of the object of inspection irradiated by the irradiating optical system, a photosensing portion for forming a surface data signal from the scattered light beam received by the light receiving optical system, a displacement portion for displacing the surface of the object of inspection relative to the irradiating optical system, plus the light receiving optical system, continuously in the main scanning direction and intermittently in the sub-scanning direction, and a foreign matter detecting portion for detecting a foreign matter present on the surface of the object of inspection on the basis of the maximum value level of the surface data signal and obtaining the position, in the sub-scanning direction, of the foreign matter present on the surface of the object of inspection on the basis of at least two adjoining surface data signals in the sub-scanning direction.