METHOD FOR INSPECTING PATTERN DEFECT AND APPARATUS THEREFOR

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method and an apparatus for detecting defects by detecting fine circuit patterns with a high resolution. SOLUTION: There are provided an optical system 7 including an objective lens for detecting images of a sample 1, a laser light source 3 for illuminating a pupil of the objective lens, a coherence reduction mechanism 4 for reducing a coherence of the laser illumination emitted from the laser light source, a storage type detector 8 and an image processing system 12 for processing detected signals of the detector. Defects of the pattern formed to the sample 1 are detected on the basis of information detected by the detector.