Inspecting a workpiece using scattered light

• Main Authors: BILLS RICHARD E, KOHL IAN T, GAO SONGPING, JUDELL NEIL
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 17.09.2013
• Subjects: CALCULATING; COMPUTING; COUNTING; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; IMAGE DATA PROCESSING OR GENERATION, IN GENERAL; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TESTING

A surface inspection system, as well as related components and methods, are provided. The surface inspection system includes a beam source subsystem, a beam scanning subsystem, a workpiece movement subsystem, an optical collection and detection subsystem, and a processing subsystem. The system features a variable polarization a polarizing relay assembly arranged to selectively permit the scattered light having a selected polarization orientation to pass along a detector optical axis to a light detection unit in the detection subsystem. The system also features a collector output width varying subsystem for varying the width of an output slit in response to changes in the location of the location scanned on the workpiece.