Patent ID: 6072900
Filing Date: 2000-06-06
Classification: G06T

Abstract:
Apparatus for inspecting a device having a plurality of substantially longitudinally-shaped openings, each opening having two opposite ends, to detect etch defects in said device, said apparatus comprising:imaging means for generating an image signal of said device representing light intensity values of a plurality of pixels;a memory for storing pixels;processing means for processing said image signal to form data signals representing light intensity values of groups of said pixels;filtering means for removing signals corresponding to said ends from said data signals by calculating pixels attributable to said ends and then deleting said pixels from said memory; andpairing means for pairing two of said data signals to form a pair of data signals if the groups of pixels represented by the two data signals satisfy at least one predetermined condition whereby said pair of data signals represents an etch defect, wherein said pairing means includes means for estimating a size of a number of etch defects of an area of said device imaged by the group of pixels represented by the two data signals.