Patent ID: 7440094

Claim:
A sample characterization system comprising: a sample holder configured to position a sample to be characterized; a multi-wavelength coherent light source; a diffraction grating configured to receive light from the multi-wavelength coherent light source and to diffract the received light into a plurality of diffracted beams, each diffracted beam having a unique wavelength; a plurality of collimators corresponding to the plurality of diffracted beams, each collimator being configured to receive a corresponding diffracted beam and to convert the corresponding diffracted beam into a collimated beam; an optical multiplexer configured to receive the collimated beams from the plurality of collimators so as to illuminate a portion of the sample with a multiplexed beam, the sample being positioned by the sample holder so as to reflect a diffraction pattern onto an inspection screen, the diffraction pattern being a composite of diffraction maxima in each of the unique wavelengths; a detection system positioned to image the diffraction pattern; and a processor configured to inverse Fourier transform the diffraction pattern imaged by the detection system to determine sample surface characteristics of the illuminated portion, the sample holder being controlled to move the sample so that multiple portions of the sample are characterized.