Patent ID: 7106895
Filing Date: 2006-09-12
Classification: G01N,G03F,G06T

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for inspecting a plurality of image portions of at least a region of a sample for defects, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of processors arranged to receive and analyze the image portions, the processors being arranged to operate in parallel and being configurable to implement one or more algorithms selected from a plurality of different algorithms for analyzing the image portions to determine whether the corresponding regions of the sample are defective, wherein each processor has access to a memory portion sized to hold at least one of the image portions; and a data distribution system arranged to receive image data, select at least a first processor for receiving a first image portion and not a second image portion of the image data and one or more first algorithms selected from the plurality of different algorithms, select at least a second processor for receiving the second image portion and not the first image portion of the image data and one or more second algorithms selected from the plurality of different algorithms, output the first image portion to the memory portion that is accessible by the first processor and the second image portion to the memory portion that is accessible by the second selected processor, and configure the first processor with the one or more first algorithms and the second processor with the one or more selected algorithms, wherein the first image portion and the second image portion are different rectangular shaped image portions that each has a width that comprises a plurality of pixels and a length that comprises a plurality of pixels, wherein the first processor is then operable to implement the one or more first algorithms to analyze substantially all of the first image portion to determine whether the analyzed first image portion has a defect and the second processor is then operable to implement the one or more second algorithms to analyze substantially all of the second image portion to determine whether the analyzed second image portion has a defect, when the defect determination operations for the first and second image portions are each based on analysis of substantially all of the respective image portion.