Disclosed herein an apparatus and method for estimating a phase retarder and method of manufacturing the phase retarder using the same. The apparatus includes: a polarization element configured to output an incident light as a linear polarization and to make the linear polarization incident onto a phase retarder to be tested; a polarization image acquisition module equipped with a plurality of polarized pixels receiving an emitting light that is output from the phase retarder, on which the linear polarization is incident, and configured to obtain a polarization image based on the emitting light that is modulated in the polarized pixels; and a processor configured to evaluate quality of the phase retarder based on uniformity of a brightness value between polarized pixels of the polarization image. The polarized pixels modulate the emitting light based on a plurality of transmission angles and detects the modulated emitting light.

An inspection system, a lithography apparatus, and an inspection method are provided. The inspection system includes an illumination system, a detection system, and processing circuitry. The illumination system generates a broadband beam and illuminates surface of an object with the broadband illumination beam. The broadband beam has a continuous spectral range. The detection system receives radiation scattered at the surface and by a structure near the surface. The detection system generates a detection signal based on an optical response to the broadband illumination beam. The processing circuitry analyzes the detection signal. The processing circuitry distinguishes between a spurious signal and a signal corresponding to a defect on the surface based on the analyzing The spurious signal is diminished for at least a portion of the continuous spectral range.

An apparatus to detect optical flatness of an OLED display layer includes a light-emitting assembly, a light-receiving assembly, and an image processor. The light-emitting assembly includes a light source and a first enhancement element. The light source emits reference light through the first enhancement element. The first enhancement element enhances brightness of the reference light and guides the enhanced reference light to a display layer of a display device being detected. The light-receiving assembly receives light reflected by the display layer according to the reference light and generates an image thereof. The image processor receives the image and obtains a result of detection as to surface flatness of the display layer according to the image.

An inspection method includes irradiating a laser to an inspection target, reflecting a first emitted laser from a transmission layer included in the inspection target, reflecting a second emitted laser from a scattering layer included in the inspection target, detecting a reference image from the second emitted laser; and measuring a separation distance obtained from the first emitted laser, based on the reference image.

A panel inspection apparatus is provided. The panel inspection apparatus has a support platform, a delivery platform and a panel inspection assembly. The delivery platform is disposed on the support platform, and the delivery platform has a push module for delivering the panel. The panel inspection assembly includes a plurality of light source modules and a plurality of image-taking modules corresponding to the light source modules. The light source modules include a front light source, a first horizontal light source, and a back light source. The image-taking modules include a front light image-taking module, a first horizontal light image-taking module, and a back light image-taking module. The push module delivers the panel across the support platform so that a plurality of light beams emitted from the light source modules can scan the panel to finish the panel inspection process.

A display panel inspection jig includes a stage comprising a seating area in which a display panel is to be disposed for inspection thereof, and a peripheral area surrounding the seating area, and comprising an uneven upper surface and a lower surface, the seating area of the stage being provided with an opening, a first supporter disposed on a first portion of the uneven upper surface of the stage, and a first barrier disposed on a second portion of the uneven upper surface of the stage. The first portion of the uneven upper surface being at the seating area and spaced apart from the opening, and the second portion of the uneven upper surface is at the peripheral area. The first barrier has an uneven lower surface such that the uneven lower surface of the first barrier and the uneven upper surface of the stage are fitted with each other.

An optical inspection device for an optical performance test of a display device including a lens part configured to transmit external light, a phase film part configured to change a phase difference of the external light and transmit the external light, and an image processor configured to obtain electrical information of the external light, in which a phase difference of the phase film part is at least 7000 nm.

In an defect inspection method and device, in order to detect a minute defect present on a surface of a sample with a high degree of sensitivity, a defect inspection method includes imaging the same region of a sample in a plurality of image acquisition conditions and acquiring a plurality of images, processing the plurality of acquired images and extracting a defect candidate, clipping a partial image including the extracted defect candidate and a neighboring image of the defect candidate from the acquired images based on position information of the extracted defect candidate, obtaining feature quantities of the defect candidates in the plurality of clipped partial images, associating the defect candidates that have the same coordinates on the sample and are detected in different image acquisition condition, extracting a defect from among the associated defect candidates in a multi-dimensional feature quantity space, and outputting information of the extracted defect.

This invention provides a system and method for detecting and imaging specular surface defects on a specular surface that employs a knife-edge technique in which the camera aperture or an external device is set to form a physical knife-edge structure within the optical path that effectively blocks reflected rays from an illuminated specular surface of a predetermined degree of slope values and allows rays deflected at differing slopes to reach the vision system camera sensor. The light reflected from the flat part of the surface is mostly blocked by the knife-edge. Light reflecting from the sloped parts of the defects is mostly reflected into the entrance aperture. The illumination beam is angled with respect to the optical axis of the camera to provide the appropriate degree of incident angle with respect to the surface under inspection. The surface can be stationary or in relative motion with respect to the camera.

The present disclosure provides a method and a device for measuring mura levels of liquid crystal display devices. The method includes steps of: acquiring correspondence between standard brightness data differences and standard mura levels; acquiring a measurement brightness data difference of a test image displayed by a to-be-tested liquid crystal display device before and after the measurement; and acquiring a mura level corresponding to the measurement brightness data difference in accordance with the correspondence.