| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for inspecting patterns by which branching defects such as short circuits and protrusions in a mask region excluded from a test object can also be detected highly accurately. SOLUTION: A part related to the pattern 21 of a binary image is expanded by an image expansion process part 13. The binary image expanded by the image expansion process part 13 is reversed between light and shade by an image reversal process part 14. Moreover, a part related to other than the pattern 21 of the reversed binary image is made a life image having a one pixel width while holding the continuity by an image thinning process part 15. Defect shapes 26a and 27a in the thinned line image are extracted by a feature extraction part 16. The branching defects of the pattern 21 are detected by a detected result process part 17 on the basis of the extracted result.
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