| 摘要 |
<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and apparatus for inspecting an image, which can strictly evaluate the failure factor, even for a specimen in which the photographed image exhibits a pattern from its nature. <P>SOLUTION: The image of the specimen obtained by imaging the specimen is smoothed, using a spatial filter having a pattern similar to that of the specimen. Thus, the peak in the brightness distribution of a partial region in the image of the specimen having only the pattern of the specimen is made unchanged, and the peak in the brightness distribution of the partial region in which the pattern of the specimen overlaps with the failure factor is lowered by the averaging. The difference between the image of the specimen before the smoothing and the image of the specimen after the smoothing is then calculated, and the failure factor is extracted by performing a binarizing process. When the failure factor is thus extracted, it is then determined whether the specimen is good or bad, by evaluating the the failure factor. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO |
