{"schema_version":"1.0","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9753296","patent":{"patent_number":"US-9753296","title":"Illumination system, inspection apparatus including such an illumination system, inspection method and manufacturing method","assignee":null,"inventors":[],"filing_date":"2015-07-21T00:00:00.000Z","publication_date":"2017-09-05T00:00:00.000Z","cpc_codes":["G01N","G01N","G02F","G02F","G01N","G01N"],"num_claims":20,"abstract":"In an illumination system (12, 13) for a scatterometer, first and second spatial light modulators lie in a common plane and are formed by different portions of a single liquid crystal cell (260). Pre-polarizers (250) apply polarization to first and second radiation prior to the spatial light modulators. A first spatial light modulator (236-S) varies a polarization state of the first radiation in accordance with a first programmable pattern. Second spatial light modulator (236-P) varies a polarization state of the second radiation accordance with a second programmable pattern. A polarizing beam splitter (234) selectively transmits each of the spatially modulated first and second radiation to a common output path, depending on the polarization state of the radiation. In an embodiment, functions of pre-polarizers are performed by the polarizing beam splitter."},"analysis":{"summary":null,"layman_explanation":null,"technical_analysis":null,"business_analysis":null,"faqs":null,"topics":[],"tech_cluster":null},"seo":{"title":"Illumination system, inspection apparatus including such an illumination system, inspection method and manufacturing method","description":"In an illumination system (12, 13) for a scatterometer, first and second spatial light modulators lie in a common plane and are formed by different portions of a single liquid crystal cell (260). Pre-","keywords":[]},"attribution":{"source":"Patentable","source_url":"https://patentable.app","canonical_url":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9753296","license":"CC-BY-4.0-like","license_terms":"AI-generated analysis on this page (summary, layman_explanation, technical_analysis, business_analysis, faqs) may be reused with attribution and a visible link back to the canonical URL above. Patent abstracts, claims, and bibliographic data are USPTO public domain.","required_link":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9753296","citation_suggestion":"Patentable. \"Illumination system, inspection apparatus including such an illumination system, inspection method and manufacturing method\" (US-9753296). https://patentable.app/patents/US-9753296","copyright_holder":"Nomic Interactive Technology LLC"},"links":{"html":"https://patentable.app/patents/US-9753296","json":"https://patentable.app/api/llm-context/US-9753296","site":"https://patentable.app","llms_txt":"https://patentable.app/llms.txt"},"generated_at":"2026-06-06T05:35:38.233Z"}