JPH0581057B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION [Field of Industrial Application] The present invention relates to a surface inspection apparatus for detecting foreign matter, defects, etc. on the surface of an object to be inspected such as a semiconductor wafer.

[Conventional technology]

For example, in conventional surface inspection equipment for semiconductor wafers, the semiconductor wafer is held on the holding surface of a rotating stage by negative pressure suction, and in this state, the rotating stage is driven to rotate, and a surface inspection of the surface of the semiconductor wafer is performed. Ru.

The holding surface of the rotation stage is formed with an air intake port for negative pressure adsorption, and this intake port is connected to an opening provided on the side surface of the shaft portion through a passage that penetrates the shaft portion of the rotation stage. The shaft of the rotation stage is rotatably supported by a member surrounding it via a bearing, and an air seal is installed in the gap between the member and the shaft, facing the opening on the side of the shaft. Air is drawn from the air intake port by an external vacuum pump through a space defined by the air seal.

In other words, the air seal forms a part of the air extraction passage for sucking the semiconductor wafer under negative pressure.

[Problem to be solved]

Now, such a surface inspection apparatus is generally used for surface inspection of semiconductor wafers, etc., where it is necessary to avoid surface defects and the presence of attached foreign matter.

However, when the surface of a semiconductor wafer or the like is repeatedly inspected using a conventional surface inspection apparatus, it has been found that the number of attached foreign particles increases with each inspection. In other words, the conventional surface inspection apparatus has a problem in that it generates foreign matter by itself, and the foreign matter adheres to the surface of the object to be inspected.

As a result of detailed research and study conducted by the inventor in order to solve this problem, the following findings were discovered. The air seal that is in contact with the shaft of a rotary stage that rotates at high speed wears out, and fine particles of the material are generated in the gap between the shaft and surrounding members. The fine particles are scattered to the outside through the open part of the gap, and some of them fall and adhere to the surface of the object to be inspected, and this is the main cause of the increase in the amount of attached foreign matter.

[Purpose of the invention]

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a surface inspection device that prevents such contamination of an object to be inspected.

[Means for solving problems]

In order to achieve this objective, the surface inspection device of the present invention is characterized in that the shaft of the rotary stage is rotatably supported by a member surrounding it via a bearing, and the gap between the member and the shaft is A part of the air extraction passage for maintaining the holding surface that suctions and holds the inspection object in a negative pressure state is defined by an air seal, and is provided in the member in the air passage of the shaft part communicating with the blowhole. In a surface inspection device to which an air supply pipe is connected and air is injected, a bearing is arranged at an end adjacent to the back surface of the rotation stage, and the bearing is arranged so as to surround the space between the upper part of the bearing and the back surface. It has a link-shaped hood body provided on the member and an air passage communicating with the gap, and maintains the gap in a negative pressure state by drawing air from the gap through the air passage.

[Effect]

In this way, the ring-shaped hood body is provided to surround the space between the bearing and the back surface of the rotating stage, so when the object to be inspected is transported on the rotating stage by injecting air from the nozzle. Even if the gap where the air seal is located temporarily becomes pressurized, particles worn by the air seal can be prevented from scattering toward the rotating stage.

In addition, since the gap in which the air seal member is placed is maintained in a negative pressure state, most of the wear particles of the air seal generated in the gap are not scattered into the external space, that is, the atmosphere of the object to be inspected. Therefore, surface contamination of the object to be inspected can be almost completely prevented.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 is a schematic front view with some parts omitted for explaining the overall configuration of the semiconductor wafer surface inspection apparatus according to the present invention. First, handling of semiconductor wafers will be explained with reference to this figure.

In this figure, 12 is a rotation stage.
A semiconductor wafer (object to be inspected) is carried onto the flat upper surface (holding surface) of the rotation stage 12 by a conveyor belt 16 . The semiconductor wafer 14 is transported in the direction of the arrow 18 by air jetted obliquely upward from the blowholes on the upper surface of the rotary stage 12, as will be described in detail later. Then, the locking position is determined by the positioning pin 20.

Although details will be described later, a plurality of through holes are formed concentrically in the rotary stage 12 for each semiconductor wafer size, and positioning pins 20 are inserted into the through holes corresponding to the size (diameter) of the semiconductor wafer 14 to be handled. is inserted through and protrudes from the upper surface of the rotation stage 12.

During this positioning, the elasticity of the positioning pins 20 tends to cause the semiconductor wafer 14 to be repelled in the direction of the arrow 22, causing the semiconductor wafer 14 to vibrate and take a long time to stop. Therefore, during positioning, the pusher 24 is moved to the illustrated position (this position also varies depending on the size of the semiconductor wafer 14 to be handled), and the tip of the protrusion 24A is aligned with the arrow 22 of the semiconductor wafer 14.
The vibration of the semiconductor wafer 14 is suppressed to shorten the positioning time.

The pusher 24 is slidably supported by a guide shaft 30 fixed to the supports 26 and 28, and is also screwed into a screw shaft 32. Therefore, when the screw shaft 32 is rotated in the forward direction by the motor 34, the pusher 24 moves in the direction of the arrow 18 (forward), and when it is rotated in the reverse direction, the pusher 24 moves in the direction of the arrow 22 (backward). .

Note that since the guide shaft 30 and the screw shaft 32 are tilted as shown, the pusher 24 rises as it moves forward, and falls as it moves backward. During periods other than positioning, the pusher 24 is retracted to a position indicated by a chain line 24B that is lower than the conveyor belt 16.

When the positioning is completed, the air between the semiconductor wafer 14 and the upper surface of the rotary stage is removed from an air intake port (described later) formed on the upper surface of the rotary stage 12, and at the same time, the jetting of air from the jet ports is stopped. As a result, the semiconductor wafer 14 is held on the rotation stage 12 by negative pressure suction. After that, the positioning pin 20 is pulled out and the pusher 2
4 is forced to retreat.

The rotation stage 12 is rotated at high speed, and the surface of the semiconductor wafer 14 is inspected.

When this surface inspection is finished and the semiconductor wafer 14 is to be carried out, the rotary stage 12 is stopped in the direction shown in the figure and is moved to a predetermined position close to the carrying belt 17 for carrying out. and,
Air is ejected from the blowhole, and air suction from the intake port is stopped. However,
Semiconductor wafer 14 is sent in the direction of arrow 18 by the jetted air, discharged onto conveyor belt 17 , and carried out by conveyor belt 16 .

In this way, since the positioning pin 20 is removed from the through hole of the rotary stage 12, it is possible to carry out both loading and unloading of the semiconductor wafer using air from the same blowhole.

Here, the configuration of the foreign object detection system and the principle of foreign object detection will be explained with reference to FIG. In this foreign object detection system 200, an S-polarized laser beam emitted from an S-polarized laser oscillator 216 is focused in the vertical direction (Z direction) by a cylindrical lens 218, and then is applied to the upper surface of the semiconductor wafer 14, for example.
It is irradiated obliquely at a 2° irradiation angle. If there is a foreign object at the irradiation point, the S-polarized laser beam will be scattered by the surface of the foreign object (which has minute irregularities) and the plane of polarization will be disturbed, so the reflected laser beam in the Z direction will contain a large amount of P-polarized component. It can be done.

The reflected laser beam is focused by an objective lens 220, passes through a slit 222 for limiting the field of view, and is made incident on a polarizing plate 224 for cutting S-polarized light.
The P-polarized light component of the reflected laser light is extracted by the polarizing plate 224, enters the photomultiplier 226, and is converted into an electrical signal. This photoelectric conversion signal is compared with a certain threshold value by a comparator (not shown),
If the threshold value is exceeded, it is determined that there is a foreign object at the irradiation point of the S-polarized laser beam.

If a pattern exists at the irradiation point of the S-polarized laser beam, the amount of reflected light in the Z direction may increase considerably. However, since the surface of the pattern is microscopically smooth, the P-polarized light component contained in the reflected laser light in the Z direction is small. Therefore,
The pattern is distinguished from foreign matter and is not detected as such.

When there is no foreign object or pattern at the irradiation point, almost the entire amount of the irradiated laser beam is specularly reflected, so the output signal of the photomultiplier 226 is at a sufficiently low level. Therefore, by comparing the levels of the signals, it is determined that there is no foreign object.

FIG. 2 shows an enlarged plan view of the rotation stage 12 and the like. The rotation stage 12 will be explained in detail with reference to this figure. As shown in the figure, air passages 40, 42, 44, 46, and 48 are formed inside the rotation stage 12 and extend radially from the center.

The air passage 40 is for passing suction air, and is opened on the upper surface of the rotary stage 12 by an intake port 50. A concentric groove 52 is formed connected to each intake port 50 . When a semiconductor wafer is set on a rotating stage, air near the groove 52 flows into the suction port 5.
0, the air intake port 50 is essentially expanded to cover almost the entire upper surface of the rotary stage. In other words, from the perspective of air suction action,
The groove 52 can be regarded as an extension of the suction port 50, and the suction port 50 and the groove 52 realize a wide suction area for vacuum suction of the semiconductor wafer almost entirely. By doing so, the semiconductor wafer 14 can be held without causing the semiconductor wafer 14 to warp.

However, as described later, one groove 5 on the outermost circumference
2 is not used when handling a 5-inch semiconductor wafer, and the two grooves 52 on the outer peripheral side are not used when handling a 4-inch semiconductor wafer.

The air passages 42, 44, 46, and 48 are for sending air for transferring semiconductor wafers.
From the air passages 44 and 46, the air passage 44
A, 46A are branched. A recess 12A is formed on the upper surface of the rotation stage 12 and is sandwiched between air passages 44A and 44B. This recess 12
A is slightly lower than the other portions, and the protrusion 24A of the pusher 24 can be inserted into the recess 12A by an amount corresponding to the size of the semiconductor wafer during positioning.

Air passage 42, 44, 44A, 46, 46
Near A and 48, there is a fumarole 5 that communicates with them.
4 is formed. Each blowhole 54 is formed to be inclined at a certain angle, and blows air obliquely upward to transfer the semiconductor wafer in the direction of the arrow 18 when the rotation stage 12 is at the angle shown in the figure. It is.

Furthermore, through holes 56 for inserting positioning pins are arranged concentrically on the left half side of the rotation stage 52 in the figure. In addition, rotation stage 1
Rotating stage 1 to achieve dynamic balance of 2.
A dummy through hole 58 is provided concentrically on the right half side of 2.

FIG. 1 is a partially sectional front view showing in detail the configuration of the main parts of the surface inspection device 10. As shown in FIG. Referring also to this figure, the rotary stage 12 is directly related to the present invention.
The drive mechanism and the like will be explained below.

First, the air passage 40 will be explained. The outer peripheral side portion of this air passage 40 is a large diameter portion 40A (see FIG. 2). A hole-filling rod 60 is inserted into this large diameter portion 40A, and is allowed to escape by an O-ring 64 inserted through a notch 62 on the lower surface of the rotation stage 12, and is also screwed into the rotation stage 12 from the side. It is fixed by a fixing screw 66 so that it cannot move forward or backward or rotate. A groove 68 is provided on the side surface of the filling rod 60, extending from its tip to a position facing the intake port 50 at the outermost circumference position.
A groove 69 extending from the outside to a position facing the second intake port 50 is formed. In addition, the tip of the filling rod 60 is connected to the third intake port 50 from the outside.
It has a length that makes it look more outward. 6
5 is an air seal.

When handling a 6-inch semiconductor wafer, the filling rod 60 is turned and fixed so that the groove 68 is on the upper side. In other words, the state shown in Figure 3 is reached, and the outer 2
Each of the two intake ports 50 communicates with the air passage 40 via a groove 68. In this case, the outermost groove 5
The inner area of 2 essentially acts as an intake area.

When handling a 5-inch semiconductor wafer, the filling rod 60 is turned and fixed so that the groove 69 faces upward. As a result, the second intake port 50 from the outside communicates with the air passage 40 via the groove 69, but the outermost ventilation opening 50 is blocked by the side surface of the filling rod 60 and is separated from the air passage 40. The inner region of the second groove 52 from the outside serves as an intake region.

When handling a 4-inch semiconductor wafer, the filling rod 60 is fixed at an angle such that neither of the grooves 68 and 69 are on the upper side, so the two outer air intake ports 50 are both blocked from the air passage 40. Ru. As a result, the third groove 5 from the outside
The area inside from 2 becomes the intake area.

Now, as shown in FIG. 1, a shaft portion 70 extends downward from the center of the rotation stage 12. Inside this shaft portion 70, the air passage 4 is provided.
0, and a vertical air passage 74 that communicates with the air passages 42, 44, 46, and 48 are formed. The tips of each of the air passages 72 and 74 are connected to openings 72A and 74A on the side surface of the rotating shaft portion 78, respectively.

The shaft portion 70 is rotatably supported by a cylindrical body 78 via a ball bearing 76 at its upper and lower ends. A pair of rotating air seals 80A are provided on the inner surface of the cylindrical body 78, corresponding to the openings 72A. The inner surface of the cylindrical body 78 is provided with an opening (not shown) that faces the space between the pair of air seals 80A, and this opening is connected to an external vacuum pump via a pipe (not shown). Ru.

Further, an air supply pipe 71 is provided so as to be able to move forward and backward through the cylinder body 78 and the support block 84. At one end of this air supply pipe 71,
A flexible tube 73 that has good adhesion to the side surface of the shaft portion 70 is attached, and this tube 73 faces the air supply side opening 74A. The other end of the air supply pipe 71 is connected to an external compressor system air supply pipe (not shown) via a coupling member 75. The air supply pipe 71 is urged outward, that is, in the backward direction, by a compression spring 77 inserted into the end thereof. Reference numeral 79 is an actuator for advancing the air supply pipe 71, and its operating portion is coupled to the coupling member 75.

The cylindrical body 78 is vertically moved by a short distance (for example, several
It is attached to a support block 84 so as to be movable by 1 mm), and is driven up and down by a motor 86 via an eccentric cam mechanism (not shown). Motor 86 is fixed to support block 84. Support block 84 is fixed to slide block 88.

A lower end portion of the shaft portion 70 is coupled to a rotating shaft of a motor 106 via a coupling ring 104 . This motor 106 is fixed to a slide block 88. The coupling ring 104 is connected to the motor 106
Although relative rotation between the rotating shaft and the shaft portion 70 is not allowed, a slight relative movement (for example, on the order of several mm) in the axial direction (vertical direction) is allowed. Such a coupling 104 may be of a type that transmits the rotational force on the input side to the output side via a leaf spring member. Since they are connected by such a coupling 104, the height position of the rotary stage 12 can be adjusted and the foreign object detection system (described later) can be focused without moving the motor 106 or the like up or down.

The slide block 88 has its front and back surfaces slidably fitted to the fixed base 110, and is supported so as to be slidable in the directions of arrows 18 and 22 relative to the fixed base 110. The slide block 88 is threadedly engaged with a screw shaft 112 rotatably provided on the fixed base 110 side, and by rotating this screw shaft 112, it moves in the directions of arrows 18 and 22. It's summery. 114 is screw shaft 11
This is a motor for rotationally driving 2.

Here, in the present invention, in order to prevent foreign matter generated in the gap 70A between the shaft portion 70 and the cylindrical body 78 from scattering to the outside, an air passage 120 for drawing out air in the gap 70A is provided. Fixed base 1
10. This air passage 120 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown) via a pipe 122, and the air in the gap 70A is removed by the vacuum pump, thereby maintaining the gap 70A in a negative pressure state.

Furthermore, in this embodiment, a ring-shaped hood body 124 is attached to the upper open portion of the gap 70A so as to surround it, in order to further ensure prevention of foreign matter scattering. The lower open part is connected to the motor 106 and the fixed base 1.
10, no such hood body is provided. Also, there's no need.

This hood body 124 is provided so as to surround the space between the ball bearing 76 constituting the bearing and the back surface of the rotation stage 12 located above the ball bearing 76. This is because the air supply pipe 71 is
Since the upper side of the shaft portion 70 is temporarily pressurized due to leakage, etc., this has the effect of blocking air seal wear particles etc. that are scattered to the upper part of the bearing through the open space inside the ball bearing 76. .

When transporting the object to be inspected on the rotary table using jet air, no matter how much the gap 70A is always in a negative pressure state, the inside of the gap 70A must be temporarily pressurized for transport, so the inside of the gap 70A is not uniform. Unable to maintain negative pressure. Therefore, the hood body 124 is required.

A pin plate 90 is provided with six positioning pins 20 (see FIG. 2 for the pin arrangement), and is prepared for each semiconductor wafer size of 4 inches, 5 inches, and 6 inches. This pin plate 90
is easily removably fastened to the elevating plate 92 by bolts 94 and wing nuts 96 implanted in the elevating plate 92. The elevating plate 92 is raised and lowered by a cylinder 98, and in order to guide this elevating and lowering, a guide shaft 100, which is slidably supported by a bearing 102 fixed to the support block 84, is fixed to the elevating plate 92. There is.

In such a configuration, by raising the elevating plate 92 by the cylinder 98, the positioning pin 20 of the pin plate 90 attached thereto can be lifted.
can be inserted all at once into the corresponding through holes 56 and protruded from the upper surface of the rotation stage 12. During the period when the positioning pin 20 is not activated, the elevating plate 92 is lowered to the height shown in FIG.

Next, the overall operation will be explained. first,
Semiconductor wafers are carried in. At this time, the slide block 88 is moved by the motor 114 so that the rotary stage 12 comes to the semiconductor wafer loading position. Rotation stage 12 is rotated by motor 106 to the angle shown in FIG. In addition, the pusher 24 corresponds to the chain line 24 in FIG.
It is forced to retreat to position B. After that, the pin plate 90 is pushed up by the cylinder 98,
The positioning pin 20 is inserted through the through hole 56 and projected from the rotation stage 12.

If a 6-inch semiconductor wafer is to be handled here, a pin plate 90 having a pin arrangement as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is attached to an elevating plate 92. The positioning pin 20 is inserted into the outermost through hole 56, as shown in FIG.

In this state, the semiconductor wafer is carried onto the rotation stage 12 by the conveyor belt 16. When the leading edge of the semiconductor wafer passes over the edge of the rotation stage 12, the actuator 79 is driven and activated, the air supply pipe 71 is moved forward, and the tube 73 is pressed so that the opening 74A is pressed against the side surface of the rotation shaft section 710. Air supply pipe 71 is connected to opening 74A. Then, air for transferring the semiconductor wafer is ejected from the blowhole 54. The loaded semiconductor wafer 14 is moved along the arrow line 18 by the blowing air.
Almost at the same time, the pusher 24 is advanced to the position shown by the solid line in FIG.

Since a 6-inch semiconductor wafer is assumed here, the tip of the protrusion 24A of the pusher 24 is
The forward position of the pusher 24 is controlled so that it is positioned slightly outside of the outermost dummy through hole 58. In other words, the distance between the tip of the protrusion 24A and the center of the rotation stage 12 is slightly larger than 3 inches (semiconductor wafer radius).

The semiconductor wafer 14 transferred by air is locked and positioned by the positioning pins 20. with this,
The center of the semiconductor wafer 14 and the center of the rotation stage 12 coincide.

When the positioning is completed in this way, air is started to be taken in by the air intake ports 50 (here, all the air intake ports 50 since this is a 6-inch semiconductor wafer), and air is drawn into almost the entire lower surface of the semiconductor wafer 14 via the groove 52. The air between the semiconductor wafer 14 and the rotation stage is discharged, and a negative pressure adsorption force acts almost entirely on the lower surface of the semiconductor wafer 14, so that the semiconductor wafer 14 is reliably adsorbed and held on the rotation stage 12 without warping. . Further, almost simultaneously with the start of the suction operation, the drive of the actuator 79 is stopped, and the air supply pipe 71 is retreated by the compression spring 77 and separated from the opening 74A. Thus, the blowout of the air for transferring the semiconductor wafer is stopped.

Then, the pusher 24 is moved backward, and the positioning pin 20 is removed from the through hole 56.

Note that the air in the gap 70A is constantly vented.

Next, the slide block 88 is moved in the direction of the arrow 18 by the motor 114 so that the S-polarized laser beam in the foreign object detection system 200 is irradiated near the outer periphery of the semiconductor wafer 14. Thereafter, the motor 106 is started and the rotation stage 12
is rotated at high speed, and at the same time, slide block 88 is moved at a constant speed in the direction of arrow 22 by motor 114. Thus, the top surface of the semiconductor wafer 14 moves from the outer circumferential side toward the center,
It is scanned spirally by an S-polarized laser beam.
Then, the presence or absence of foreign matter at each scanning point is determined based on the output signal of the photomultiplier 226, and a surface inspection is performed.

When the scanning progresses to the center of the semiconductor wafer 14 and the surface inspection is completed, the rotary stage 12 is oriented as shown in FIG. 3 and the motor 106 is stopped. Also, the motor 11 is operated to move the rotary stage 12 to the semiconductor wafer unloading position.
4 is controlled.

After that, intake air from the intake port 50 is stopped. Further, the actuator 79 is driven, the air supply pipe 71 is connected to the opening 74A, and air is supplied from the compressor system to the jet nozzle 54.
The semiconductor wafer 14 is discharged onto the conveyor belt 17 by the air ejected from the blowhole 54, and is carried out by the conveyor belt.

When handling a 5-inch semiconductor wafer, a pin plate 90 having positioning pins 20 implanted in correspondence with the second through hole 56 from the outside is attached to the elevating plate 92. At the time of carrying-in positioning, the pusher 24 is advanced to a position where the distance between the tip of the protrusion 24A and the center of the rotary plate 12 is slightly larger than 2.5 inches.

When handling 4-inch semiconductor wafers,
A pin plate 90 in which positioning pins 20 are implanted in correspondence with the second through hole 56 is attached to the elevating plate 92. When determining the loading position, press the pusher 24.
is advanced to a position where the distance between the tip of the protrusion 24A and the center of the rotating plate 12 is slightly larger than 2 inches.

Focusing between the objective lens 220 of the foreign object detection system 200 and the semiconductor wafer surface is performed by moving the rotary stage 12 up and down together with the cylindrical body 78 by the motor 86. At this time, relative movement in the vertical direction between the shaft portion 70 of the rotation stage 12 and the rotation shaft of the fixed motor 106 is absorbed by the coupling 104.

Here, prevention of contamination of semiconductor wafers, which is directly related to the present invention, will be explained.

As mentioned above, the rotary stage 12 during surface inspection
Since the air seal rotates at high speed, the air seal 80A in contact with the shaft portion 70 is worn out, and its particles are generated within the gap 70A. Conventionally, a similar air seal for supplying air for transporting semiconductor wafers was provided in the gap 70A, which also generated abrasion particles, but in this embodiment, such an air seal is not provided. Since the air supply pipe 71 corresponding thereto is separated from the shaft portion 70 during the rotation of the rotary stage 12, it does not become a source of wear particles.

Conventionally, there was a problem in that wear particles generated in such a gap 70A were scattered to the outside, landed on the surface of the semiconductor wafer under inspection, and contaminated the surface. On the other hand, according to the present invention, air is removed from the gap 70A through the air passage 120 and maintained in a negative pressure state, and the open part of the gap 70A is surrounded by the hood body 124, so that air is removed from the gap 70A. The scattering of wear particles to the outside is almost completely prevented. Further, the wear particles generated in the gap 70A are discharged to the outside of the device together with air, and do not accumulate in the gap.

In this embodiment, since the air in the space 104A connected to the gap 70A is also removed, foreign matter generated by the coupling ring 104 is also discharged out of the apparatus.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto and can be implemented with appropriate modifications.

Furthermore, the present invention can be applied to surface inspection apparatuses that target objects to be inspected other than semiconductor wafers, and to surface inspection apparatuses that use a different principle for detecting foreign objects or defects.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, in the present invention, a ring-shaped hood body is provided to surround the space between the bearing and the back surface of the rotation stage, and the gap where the air seal member is arranged is provided with a negative pressure. Even if the gap where the air seal is temporarily put into a pressurized state when the inspection object is transported by injecting air from the nozzle on the rotating stage, the air seal It is possible to prevent the wear particles from scattering to the surface side of the object to be inspected on the rotating stage.

As a result, a highly reliable surface inspection device can be realized.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a schematic partial sectional front view showing the configuration of the main parts of a surface inspection apparatus according to the present invention, FIG. FIG. 3 is a schematic front view for explaining the overall configuration of the surface inspection device. 12...Rotation stage, 14...Semiconductor wafer, 5
0...Intake port, 70...Shaft part, 70A...Gap, 78...
Cylindrical body, 80A...air seal, 120...air passage, 122...pipe, 124...hood body.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 A blowhole is provided on a rotary stage that sucks and holds an object to be inspected, and the object to be inspected is transported to a predetermined position on the rotary stage by injecting air from the blowhole, and the object is placed on the holding surface of the rotary stage. While the object to be inspected is suctioned under negative pressure, foreign objects, defects, etc. on the surface of the object to be inspected are detected, and after the inspection, the object to be inspected is conveyed by injecting air from the blowhole, and the shaft of the rotating stage is transported. is rotatably supported by a member surrounding it via a bearing, and a part of an air extraction passage for maintaining the holding surface in a negative pressure state is provided with air in the gap between the member and the shaft. In a surface inspection apparatus in which an air supply pipe provided on the member is connected to an air passage of the shaft portion defined by a seal and communicated with the blowhole, and air is injected, The bearing is disposed at an adjacent end, and has a link-shaped hood body provided on the member so as to surround the space between the upper part of the bearing and the back surface, and an air passage communicating with the gap. A surface inspection apparatus characterized in that the gap is maintained in a negative pressure state by drawing air from the gap through the air passage.