US Patent Issued to Canon on July 15 for "Foreign matter inspection apparatus, foreign matter inspection method, processing apparatus, and article manufacturing method" (Japanese Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 16 -- United States Patent no. 12,360,059, issued on July 15, was assigned to Canon K.K. (Tokyo).

"Foreign matter inspection apparatus, foreign matter inspection method, processing apparatus, and article manufacturing method" was invented by Yuichi Fujita (Tochigi, Japan) and Shinichiro Hirai (Saitama, Japan).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A inspection apparatus for detecting a foreign matter on a substrate on which a pattern is formed includes a detection unit including a light projector for projecting light on a surface of the substrate and a light receiver, a change mechanism for changing an area of the light projected by the light projector to a first area and a secon...