Patent ID: 7102762

Claim:
A surface inspection apparatus for inspecting a surface of an object to be inspected, comprising: a projecting optical system which projects an inspection light to the surface of the object via a reference surface; a pick up unit which picks up surface interference fringes formed by reflected light caused by the inspection light being reflected from the reference surface and reflected light caused by the inspection light being reflected from the surface of the object; and an arithmetic unit which calculates a shape of the surface of the object based on the picked up interference fringes, wherein the projecting optical system includes a laser light source that emits, as the inspection light, pulsed laser light having a pulse width and a pulse quiescent time capable of preventing formation of rear face interference fringes which are formed by the reflected light from the surface of the object and reflected light caused by the inspection light being reflected from a rear face of the object, the object allowing the inspection light to pass therethrough.