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:
Oct. 05, 2004
Filed:
Sep. 14, 2000
Sony Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
A method and apparatus for controlling the focal position of the UV light for auto-focussing the converged UV light, and a method and apparatus and for inspecting a device, such as a semiconductor wafer or liquid crystal using the converged UV light, in which the UV light converged is to be auto-focussed accurately and speedily. The method includes an inspection stage for supporting a semiconductor wafer, an objective lens for UV light or converging a UV laser light for illuminating the laser light converged to the semiconductor wafer, a distance sensor secured to this objective lens for UV light to detect the distance to the semiconductor wafer and a controller for causing movement of the inspection stage in a perpendicular direction. The controller causes the distance between the objective lens for UV light and the semiconductor wafer to coincide with the target distance T based on the distance as detected by the distance sensor