ELECTRONIC COMPONENT INSPECTING METHOD AND APPARATUS USED IN THE METHOD

摘要

Provided is an excellent inspecting method for quickly and correctly inspecting fine sections of an electronic component. An apparatus used in such method is also provided. An electronic component is placed on a stage, and an imaging means (40) provided by combining a differential interference microscope (44) and a CCD camera (45) is aligned by being moved by an X-direction moving means (46). As for an electronic component to be inspected first, an objective lens of the differential interference microscope (44) is advanced/retracted by means of a Z-direction adjusting means (47), and a plurality of images are continuously picked up. Then, an optimum focal point distance is calculated from the image data to perform focusing, then, an image is picked up. As for the subsequent electronic components, an image is picked up after performing automatic focusing, corresponding to a predicted optimum focal point distance derived from the optimum foal point distance stored in previous inspection or before, and whether the imaged portion is acceptable or not is inspected, based on the obtained image data.