Patent ID: 6614244
Filing Date: 2003-09-02
Classification: G01R

Abstract:
A semiconductor device inspecting apparatus, comprising:an electron gun for irradiating a area on a sample with electron beams to be inspected where a semiconductor device is formed; an electron beam control section for controlling these electron beams; current measuring equipment for measuring compensation current of secondary electrons generated by electron beams which have passed through contact holes in the inspected area and reached an underlying conductive layer; a data processor for determining a reference for judging whether an inspected area is good or bad, which is a current value obtained by using said current measuring equipment when irradiating an area having one or more contact holes treated as the inspected area sequentially or collectively with electron beams; and a storage device for storing said data processing result, wherein said storage device stores a background value, which is a current value obtained when irradiating an area made of the same material and having the same structure except that it has no contact hole in the same sample as for the area having the contact holes in said inspected area and the data processor performs data processing of subtracting said background value stored in the storage device from the current value obtained by said current measuring equipment when irradiating said area having one or more contact holes treated as the inspected area.