OPTICAL MEASUREMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD TO MEASURE CRITICAL SIZE Russian patent published in 2014 - IPC B82Y35/00 G01B11/14 

FIELD: measurement equipment.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to measurement equipment and may be used for measurement of geometric parameters of nanoobjects. The optical measurement system comprises a module to vary and monitor parameters of the optical circuit and lighting conditions; a lighting module; a module to build an optical image; a defocusing module; a module to register a row of images with different extent of focusing; a module to calculate a row of images with different extent of defocusing; a module to compare recorded defocused images with calculated images; a module of user interface. The method consists in the fact that a row of nanostructure images is recorded, which correspond to various wave lengths of scattered radiation with different extent of defocusing; several rows of nanostructure images are calculated with the critical size value that is within the available specified limits; a row of measured nanostructure images is compared to the appropriate rows of calculated images, and the best approximation of the critical size value is determined.

EFFECT: measurement of nanostructure critical size based on processing of defocused images without mechanical scanning of investigated nanostructure along focus.

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