Patent ID: 7012683

Claim:
An inspection system for detecting defects on a sample, the system comprising: a beam generator for directing an incident beam towards a sample surface; a detector positioned to detect a detected beam originating from the sample surface in response to the incident beam, wherein the detector comprises: a sensor for detecting the detected beam and generating a detected signal based on the detected beam; a non-linear component coupled to the sensor, the non-linear component being arranged to generate a non-linear detected signal based on the detected signal; and a first analog-to-digital converter (ADC) coupled to the non-linear component, the first ADC being arranged to digitize the non-linear detected signal into a first digitized detected signal, wherein the detector further comprises a first feed back circuit for automatically adjusting an illumination intensity of the incident beam based on the non-linear detected signal or the detected signal; and a data processor for determining whether there is a defect present on the sample surface based on the first digitized detected signal.