Patent ID: 7039228

Claim:
A method of inspecting a structure-bearing surface of an object, said method comprising the steps of: simultaneously forming a plurality of lines on the surface using light emitted from at least one coherent light source at a first wavelength and strobed at a pre-determined exposure time; moving the lines with respect to the surface; capturing an image of the lines as they move with respect to the surface; determining height information for structures on the surface from the image of the lines; illuminating the surface of the object with visible light at a second wavelength, the second wavelength being different from the first wavelength; capturing a second image of the surface illuminated by the visible light at a second wavelength; determining two-dimensional information for any surface structures by analyzing the second image; illuminating the surface with visible light at a third wavelength, the third wavelength being different from the first and second wavelength; capturing a third image created by the visible light at the third wavelength; and determining two-dimensional information for any surface by analyzing the third image; wherein the image capturing steps are performed by a camera operable to capture separate images corresponding to light of the first wavelength and of the second wavelength.