Patent ID: 8228495

Claim:
A defect inspecting apparatus, comprising: a stage, configured to mount a specimen to be inspected and configured to be movable in at least one direction; an illuminating unit, configured to illuminate a surface of the specimen with at least three slit-like shaped polarized laser beams, wherein each of at least three slit-like shaped polarized laser beams is inclined at a different vertical angle in relation to the surface of the specimen than the others of the at least three slit-like shaped polarized laser beams; a detecting optical unit, installed at an inclined angle direction in relation to the surface of the specimen, and having image-forming optics and at least one aligned light receiving element to detect a first image of the specimen illuminated by the illuminating unit; a processor, configured to process images detected by the at least one aligned light receiving element, in order to detect a defect on the specimen if a defect exists.