Patent ID: 8018586

Claim:
A method of performing a measurement at a selected location or point on the surface of a semiconductor wafer having thin film features formed in accordance with an integrated circuit design, comprising: identifying a region of the workpiece surface containing the selected location; acquiring a two-dimensional spatial image of said region; processing said spatial image of said region with reference to said integrated circuit design and with reference to said selected location, to determine at least one pixel of said spatial image containing or adjacent said selected location; focusing an addressable micromirror array onto said region whereby individual micromirrors of said array receive light from corresponding individual areas of said selected region, said selected areas corresponding to respective pixels of said spatial image; correlating said one pixel with at least one of said micromirrors of said array and orienting said at least one micromirror to reflect light from said wafer surface to a wavelength separation element to generate a wavelength-dispersed image, and directing the remaining micromirrors to not reflect light from said wafer surface to said wavelength separation element; processing said wavelength dispersed image to deduce the value of a selected characteristic at said selected location of said surface of said wafer; wherein said selected location is one of a succession of selected locations lying within said region, said method further comprising: processing said spatial image so as to determine plural pixels of said spatial image corresponding to said plural selected locations; correlating said plural pixels to respective ones of said micromirrors; and directing successive ones of said respective micromirrors to reflect light from said wafer surface to said wavelength separation element one at a time to generate a succession of wavelength dispersed images corresponding to said succession of said plural selected locations.