A method and device recognize and analyze surface defects in three-dimensional objects having a reflective surface, in particular motor vehicle bodies. In which method the surface defects are identified by the evaluation of an image, recorded by a camera in the form of a raster image of pixels, of an illumination pattern projected by a first illumination device onto a part of the reflective surface using a two-dimensional raster coordinate system. The surface defects are identified exclusively using two-dimensional image information with the aid of image processing algorithms without the need for “environmental parameters”, and complex geometric calculations can be omitted. The solution is fast and robust and can be carried out using differently configured first illumination devices, which makes it suitable for mobile applications, for example as a hand-held module. It is also made possible for the method to be optimized by a “deep learning” strategy.

A method for detecting lens cleanliness of a lens in a flat-field optical path, the flat-field optical path includes a light source, the lens, a camera, the light source is a narrow-band multispectral uniform surface light source, the camera's light-sensitive surface is disposed perpendicular to an optical axis of the lens and in the light position of the lens, the method including disposing the camera such that the camera's light-sensitive surface is located a distance from the focal plane of the lens and measuring the bright-field image data and the dark-field image data; for each pixel, performing an out-of-focus differential flat field correction to yield a plurality of DiDj out-of-focus differentials; repeating the disposing and performing steps by altering the distance at least two more times; and displaying the out-of-focus differentials in the form of a plurality of images to show uniformity of each of the plurality of images.

An optical inspection system in accordance with the disclosure can be configured to simultaneously capture illumination reflected in multiple directions from the surface of a substrate, thereby overcoming inaccurate or incomplete characterization of substrate surface aspects as a result of reflected intensity variations that can arise when illumination is captured only from a single direction. Such a system includes a set of illuminators and an image capture device configured to simultaneously capture at least two beams of illumination that are reflected off the surface. The at least two beams of illumination that are simultaneously captured by the image capture device have different angular separations between their reflected paths of travel. The set of illuminators can include a set of thin line illuminators positioned and configured to supply one or more beams of thin line illumination incident to the surface. For instance, two beams of thin line illumination can be directed to the surface at different angles of incidence to a normal axis of the surface.

A die bonding apparatus includes a first illumination device for irradiating a die with light along an optical axis of a photographing device, and a second illumination device that is located above the first illumination device and irradiates the die with light having a predefined angle with respect to the optical axis. The second illumination device includes a second light emitting section, and a light path control member that limits a light path of second irradiation light emitted from the second light emitting section. The second illumination device is disposed in such a way that the second irradiation light, the light path of which is limited by the light path control member, passes through the cylinder of the first illumination device, and the top surface of the die is irradiated with the second irradiation light.

An inspection apparatus for simultaneous dark field (DF) and differential interference contrast (DIC) inspection includes an illumination source and a sample stage configured to secure a sample. The inspection apparatus includes a first sensor, a second sensor and an optical sub-system. The optical sub-system includes an objective, one or more optical elements arranged to direct, through the objective, illumination from the one or more illumination sources to a surface of the sample. The objective is configured to collect a signal from the surface of the sample, wherein the collected signal includes a scattering-based signal and/or a phase-based signal from the sample. The inspection apparatus includes one or more separation optical elements arranged to spatially separate the collected signal into a DF signal and a DIC signal by directing the DF signal and the DIC signal along a DF path and DIC path respectively.

A multi-optic vision device includes a dark-vision lighting apparatus illuminating a defect on a subject and leaving regions that surround the defect dark. A bright-vision lighting apparatus illuminates the subject and the regions that surround the defect and leaving the defect dark. A differential-vision lighting apparatus illuminates the subject so as to stereoscopically show the defect on the subject. An area scan camera continuously imaging the subject as the dark-vision lighting apparatus, the bright-vision lighting apparatus, and the differential-vision lighting apparatus simultaneously and respectively provide light. A controller processes the image to respectively obtain a dark-vision image, a bright-vision image, and a differential-vision image of the subject.

Disclosed are methods and apparatus for detecting defects or reviewing defects in a semiconductor sample. The system has a brightfield (BF) module for directing a BF illumination beam onto a sample and detecting an output beam reflected from the sample in response to the BF illumination beam. The system has a modulated optical reflectance (MOR) module for directing a pump and probe beam to the sample and detecting a MOR output beam from the probe spot in response to the pump beam and the probe beam. The system includes a processor for analyzing the BF output beam from a plurality of BF spots to detect defects on a surface or near the surface of the sample and analyzing the MOR output beam from a plurality of probe spots to detect defects that are below the surface of the sample.

A method includes obtaining a dark-field signal generated from a dark-field CT scan of an object, wherein the dark-field CT scan is at least a 360 degree scan. The method further includes weighting the dark-field signal. The method further includes performing a cone beam reconstruction of the weighted dark-field signal over the 360 degree scan, thereby generating volumetric image data. For an axial cone-beam CT scan, in one non-limiting instance, the cone-beam reconstruction is a full scan FDK cone beam reconstruction. For a helical cone-beam CT scan, in one non-limiting instance, the dark-field signal is rebinned to wedge geometry and the cone-beam reconstruction is a full scan aperture weighted wedge reconstruction. For a helical cone-beam CT scan, in another non-limiting instance, the dark-field signal is rebinned to wedge geometry and the cone-beam reconstruction is a full scan angular weighted wedge reconstruction.

Systems and methods for inspection of a specimen are provided. One system includes an illumination subsystem configured to illuminate the specimen by scanning a spot across the specimen. The system also includes a non-imaging detection subsystem configured to generate output signals responsive to light specularly reflected from the spot scanned across the specimen. In addition, the system includes a processor configured to generate images of the specimen using the output signals and to detect defects on the specimen using the images. In one embodiment, the non-imaging detection subsystem includes an objective and a detector. An NA of the objective does not match a pixel size of the detector. In another embodiment, the non-imaging detection subsystem includes an objective having an NA of greater than about 0.05. The system may be configured for multi-spot illumination and multi-channel detection. Alternatively, the system may be configured for single spot illumination and multi-channel detection.

Aspects of the present disclosure include methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for transmitting a light such that it is incident on a multi-layer stack, wherein the multi-layer stack includes the feature and a region without the feature, detecting a narrow-band light from the feature and the region without the feature, wherein the feature has a first optical response in response to a wavelength of the narrow-band light and the region without the feature has a second optical response in response to the wavelength of the narrow-band light, and generating, based on the narrow-band light, an image indicative of where the first optical response and the second optical response occur on the multi-layer stack.