Patent ID: 8995746
Filing Date: 2015-03-31
Classification: G01N,G06T

Abstract:
1. A method of inspecting or measuring a specimen using an inspection system comprising a pre-scanner acousto-optic deflector (AOD), a chirp AOD, and a plurality of detection channels, the method comprising: using a common trigger clock to generate a chirp clock and input a chirp frequency ramp signal into the chirp AOD based on the generated chirp clock; in response to the chirp frequency ramp signal input to the chirp AOD, propagating a chirp packet through the chirp AOD; using the common trigger clock to generate a pre-scanner clock and input a pre-scanner frequency ramp signal into the pre-scanner AOD based on the generated pre-scanner clock, wherein the pre-scanner AOD receives and deflects an incident beam onto the propagating chirp packet in the chirp AOD, causing one or more spots to be scanned in a plurality of lines across the specimen; using the common trigger clock to generate an acquisition clock for each detection channel and input a sampling frequency signal into such detection channel based on the generated acquisition clock for such detection channel; and at each detection channel, detecting light from the specimen in response to one or more spots scanned across the specimen and generating a detected image that has a sampling rate that is based on the sampling frequency signal.