Photoelectric conversion element, defect inspecting apparatus, and defect inspecting method

1. A photoelectric conversion element comprising:

a plurality of sensor pixels;

a multiplexer;

a plurality of horizontal transfer registers;

a plurality of line delay registers configured to store charges for each corresponding line of line scans;

a plurality of addition registers, wherein the addition registers are configured to add signals transferred from the line delay registers; and

a plurality of pixel combining registers corresponding to each of the addition registers, wherein the pixel combining registers are configured to add pixels transferred from the addition registers,

wherein the sensor pixels are divided into a plurality of blocks such that the sensor pixels correspond to each of the horizontal transfer registers,

wherein charges of the blocks of the sensor pixels are transferred to respective corresponding horizontal transfer registers,

wherein the multiplexer reads signals from the horizontal transfer registers and outputs the signals,

wherein each of the line delay registers stores the signals outputted by the multiplexer for each corresponding line scan,

wherein the signals are transferred from the line delay registers to the addition registers, and

wherein the signals of the addition registers are transferred to the respective corresponding pixel combining registers.

2. A defect inspecting apparatus comprising:

a detector including a photoelectric conversion element; and

an element configuration controller,

wherein the apparatus inspects defects of a sample by detecting a reflected light from the sample using the detector,

wherein the photoelectric conversion element comprises a plurality of sensor pixels divided into a plurality of blocks; a plurality of horizontal transfer registers configured to input charges from respective corresponding blocks; a multiplexer including an integration function to read signals from the horizontal transfer registers and output the signals; a plurality of line delay registers configured to store the signals outputted by the multiplexer for each corresponding line of line scans; a plurality of addition registers configured to input the signals from the line delay registers; and a plurality of pixel combining registers including a pixel-direction adding function to input the signals of the respective corresponding addition registers and add pixels, and

wherein the element configuration controller performs, according to a specified setup, switching control of the integration function, the pixel-direction adding function, and a line-direction adding function to add pixels using the line delay registers and the addition registers.

3. A defect inspecting method for inspecting defects of a sample by detecting a reflected light from the sample using a detector including a photoelectric conversion element, the defect inspecting method comprising the steps of:

inputting a setup for controlling the photoelectric conversion element including a multiplexer, horizontal transfer registers, pixel combining registers, line delay registers, and an addition register;

setting up an integration function by the photoelectric conversion element according to the setup, the integration function being a function that the multiplexer reads signals from the horizontal transfer registers respectively corresponding to sensor pixels divided into a plurality of blocks and outputs the signals; and

setting up at least one of functions by the photoelectric conversion element according to the setup, the functions including a pixel-direction adding function to transfer charges from the sensor pixels to the horizontal transfer registers and transfer the charges from the horizontal transfer registers to the pixel combining registers and a line-direction adding function to transfer charges from the sensor pixels to the horizontal transfer registers, transfer the charges from the horizontal transfer registers to the line delay registers, and transfer the charges from the line delay registers to the addition register.