Patent ID: 6169603
Filing Date: 2001-01-02
Classification: G03F

Abstract:
A method of inspecting a reticle comprising the steps of: irradiating a light beam on a reticle having a pattern, said reticle receiving the transmitted light to form an optical image, while moving an X-Y table holding said reticle to measure the relative position of the X-Y table by a laser interferometer; comparing the optical image with a reference image synthesized by converting draft data used when forming said pattern; and detecting defects of said pattern; providing a scale to which changes in an environmental condition is less than that of said laser interferometer to detect the position of the X-Y table, obtaining deviation data of measurement errors of said laser interferometer due to the changes in the environmental condition, using the scale for successive, overlapping inspection regions of said reticle; converting said draft data by an amount of said deviation data to produce corrected draft data for said successive, overlapping inspection regions; and synthesizing said reference image for a given inspection region from said corrected draft data of a preceding inspection region.