US Patent 7230725 Method and apparatus for imaging three-dimensional structure

Determining surface topology of a portion of a three-dimensional structure is provided. An array of incident light beams passing through a focusing optics and a probing face is shone on said portion. The focusing optics defines one or more focal planes forward the probing face in a position which can be changed by the focusing optics. The beams generate illuminated spots on the structure and the intensity of returning light rays propagating in an optical path opposite to that of the incident light rays is measured at various positions of the focal plane(s). By determining spot-specific positions yielding a maximum intensity of the returned light beams, data is generated which is representative of said topology.