PATTERN CONTOUR EXTRACTION METHOD, IMAGE PROCESSING METHOD, PATTERN EDGE RETRIEVAL METHOD, PROBE SCANNING METHOD, PRODUCTION METHOD OF SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE, PATTERN INSPECTION DEVICE AND PROGRAM

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To accurately and promptly extract a pattern contour even if a plurality of patterns exist in a same image or the contour shape of a measurement object pattern is complicated.

SOLUTION: The image of a pattern of inspection object is acquired (step S1). The rough edge location of the pattern is calculated from the image (step S2, S3). Then, a lattice animal is disposed based on the edge location (step S5), the disposed lattice animal is divided into star-shaped polygons (steps S6 to S11), the locations of the kernels of the star-shaped polygons are calculated (step S12), and an edge is searched from the calculated kernels toward the periphery of the lattice animal (step S13).

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