| 摘要 |
A pattern defect inspection apparatus. Light is irradiated on a sample having a pattern formed thereon and the transmitted or reflected portion of the irradiated light is condensed. The condensed light is received so as to acquire the observed data corresponding to the pattern formed in the sample. A design pattern image is compared with a pattern formed in the sample by the observed data. Alternatively, two sets of observed data corresponding to a plurality of patterns formed in the sample are compared. The presence or absence of a defect of the pattern is judged based on the result of comparison. This also determines whether the size of the defect of the pattern is larger than a predetermined size. The inspection is temporarily stopped if the size of the defect detected by the judging circuit during inspection is larger than a predetermined size.
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