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. 05, 2007
Filed:
Mar. 03, 2003
Daniel L. Cavan, Woodside, CA (US);
Daniel L. Cavan, Woodside, CA (US);
KLA-Tencor Technologies Corporation, Milpitas, CA (US);
Abstract
A surface inspection apparatus in accordance with the principles of the invention includes an optical system having a plurality of time delay integration (TDI) sensors. The plurality of TDI sensors are arranged to generate a plurality of images of an object so that the images are offset a sub-pixel distance from each other. A scanning element enables the TDI sensors to scan the object so successive images of the object can be generated. Image processing circuitry is used to process the plurality of successive images together to produce a reconstructed image of the object having increased pixel density. The embodiments of the invention also include methods for generating reconstructed images from a plurality of TDI images obtained from at least two offset TDI sensors.