Patent ID: 6559937
Filing Date: 2003-05-06
Classification: G01N

Abstract:
An inspection apparatus, comprising:an illumination means for illuminating an inspection pattern having a concave and convex pattern; the concave pattern having a concave portion and the convex pattern having a convex portion; an image pickup means for picking up an image of the inspection pattern illuminated by the illumination means; a detection optical system for introducing light from the inspection pattern illuminated by the illumination means to the image pickup means; and an image processing means for preparing a light intensity profile corresponding to the concave and convex pattern of the inspection pattern, the light intensity profile being based on the image of the inspection pattern picked up by the image pickup means, wherein the detection optical system introduced the light in an off-focus state from the inspection pattern illuminated by the illumination means to the image pickup means, such that the image processing means prepares the light intensity profile having a peak, the peak corresponding to a boundary portion between the concave portion and the convex portion wherein at least one of the concave portion and the convex portion has a width up to and including 0.18 &mgr;m.