Patent ID: 7130039

Claim:
An apparatus detecting anomalies of a surface of a semiconductor sample having multiple dice thereon, comprising: (a) an optical head comprising: illumination optics focusing illumination beams of radiation to a one or two dimensional array of spots on the surface by means of a first objective; an array of receivers; imaging optics imaging scattered radiation from said spots onto the array of receivers, so that each receiver receives scattered radiation from a corresponding spot in the array of spots; (b) a plurality of detectors, each detector generating a signal in response to scattered radiation in one of the receivers in the array of receivers; (c) an instrument causing rotational motion between the surface and the illumination beams about a rotational axis so that the beams scan over substantially entire area of the surface; and (d) a storage storing the signals from the detectors as the beams scan over the surface thereby storing signals generated in response to scattered radiation from at least two dice of the surface; and a processing circuit comparing the signals generated in response to scattered radiation from the at least two dice of the surface to detect anomalies of the surface.