Patent ID: 7911601

Claim:
An apparatus for inspecting defects, comprising: a table which mounts a specimen to be inspected and movable in a plane; an ultraviolet light source which includes a solid-state laser device and a wavelength converter device and emits an ultraviolet laser beam; an illuminating unit which illuminates the specimen mounted on the table with light emitted from the ultraviolet light source and provided with a first polarization condition; a detecting unit which detects light reflected from the specimen illuminated by the illuminating unit, said light reflected from the specimen is a second polarization condition; and a processing unit which processes signals output from the detecting unit by the detection of the reflected light and outputs information about defects detected on the specimen; wherein the solid-state laser device and the wavelength converter device of the ultraviolet light source are disposed in a first closed container supplied with clean gas and separated from the table which mounts the specimen and the detecting unit which are disposed outside the first container, and wherein the wavelength converter is disposed in a second closed container which is in the first closed container.