Microscope stand for a wafer inspection microscope

US6236503A · kind A · utility

Assignee

• Leica Microsystems Wetzlar GmbH · DE

Inventors

• Ulrich Kaczynski · Bad Nauheim, DE
• Roland Hedrich · Ehringshausen, DE

Key dates

• Filing date: Mar 6, 2000
• Grant date: May 22, 2001
• Expiry date: Mar 6, 2020

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G02B21/24
• WIPO field: Optics
• WIPO sector: Instruments

Abstract

The invention relates to an inspection microscope for the semiconductor industry. The microscope stand consists of a foot (1), a pillar (4) and a crosshead (5). In order to facilitate unobstructed feeding of samples from the back part of the microscope stand, the pillar (4) is mounted laterally next to the back end of the foot (1) and the crosshead (5) arranged thereon when seen from the front. This makes it possible to save space and avoid adaptations when integrating the microscope stand into the clusters in the test area of the semiconductor industry and to feed test objects directly from the back of the microscope stage (3). In an especially advantageous construction of the stand, the inspection microscope is particularly suitable for examining large-surface objects (e.g. flat screens or 400 nm wafers).