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. 14, 2012
Filed:
Oct. 08, 2010
Fuminori Hayano, Tokyo, JP;
Fuminori Hayano, Tokyo, JP;
Nikon Corporation, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
Provided is a surface inspecting method for inspecting a surface of a semiconductor substrate having linear line patterns repeatedly arranged and hole-shaped hole patterns formed on the line patterns. The surface inspecting method includes setting inspecting conditions; irradiating the surface of the semiconductor substrate with illumination light under the set inspecting conditions; detecting diffracted light from the semiconductor substrate irradiated with illumination light; and judging existence/nonexistence of a defect in the hole patterns, based on the detected diffracted light. The inspecting conditions are to be set so that the irradiating direction of the illumination light on the surface of the semiconductor substrate is different from the repeated arrangement direction of the line patterns and substantially matches the repeated arrangement direction of the hole patterns.