Patent ID: 8451439

Claim:
An apparatus for inspecting defects, comprising: a table on which a specimen to be inspected is mounted, the table being movable in a plane; an ultraviolet light source for emitting ultraviolet light; an illuminating unit for illuminating the specimen mounted on the table with light emitted from the ultraviolet light source; a detecting unit for forming an image of the specimen illuminated by the illuminating unit and detecting the image with an image sensor; an image processing unit for processing the image detected by the image sensor and outputting information about defects detected on the specimen; and a container which covers the illumination unit and the detecting unit, includes an inlet and an outlet of a clean gas, and has an opening between the specimen mounted on the table and the illuminating unit to form an air curtain between the specimen and the illuminating unit with clean gas supplied inside the container through the inlet.