| US 7,599,545 B2 | ||
| Method and its apparatus for inspecting defects | ||
| Yukihiro Shibata, Fujisawa (Japan); Shunji Maeda, Yokohama (Japan); and Hitoshi Kubota, Fujisawa (Japan) | ||
| Assigned to Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, Tokyo (Japan) | ||
| Filed on Jul. 20, 2004, as Appl. No. 10/893,988. | ||
| Claims priority of application No. 2003-313897 (JP), filed on Sep. 05, 2003. | ||
| Prior Publication US 2005/0052642 A1, Mar. 10, 2005 | ||
| Int. Cl. G06K 9/00 (2006.01); H04N 7/18 (2006.01) | ||
| U.S. Cl. 382—141 [348/61; 348/81; 348/92; 348/125] | 30 Claims |
| 1. A method of inspecting defects, said method comprising the steps of:
immersing a sample to be inspected in a liquid at a pre-inspection liquid immersion unit and conducting interfacial bubble
removal of the sample;
transferring the sample from the pre-inspection liquid immersion unit onto a table of a detection optical system;
forming, in a state where a clearance between a sample and a front-end portion of detection optical system is filled with
a liquid, an optical image of the sample by use of the detection optical system;
acquiring as an image signal by use of an image sensor, the optical image formed in said step of forming the optical image
of the sample; and
detecting defects on the sample on the basis of the image signal acquired in said acquisition step.
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