Patent ID: 7605913

Claim:
An optical collection system for use in a surface inspection system for inspecting a surface of a workpiece, the surface inspection system having an incident beam projected through a back quartersphere and toward a desired location on the surface to impinge thereon to create reflected light, extending along a light channel axis in a front quartersphere, and scattered light, the incident beam and the light channel axis forming an incident plane, the optical collection system comprising: a wing collector positioned to collect a first portion of the scattered light, the wing collector being disposed in the front quartersphere, outside the incident plane, and at a null of a bi-directional reflectance distribution function when the incident beam is P polarized, and at least one of the following collection elements: a light channel collector, positioned in the incident plane to simultaneously receive the reflected light, or a front collector disposed in the front quartersphere and positioned to simultaneously collect a second portion of the scattered light.