Patent ID: 8502145

Claim:
An electron microscope system, comprising: electron beam image obtaining means for obtaining an image of a specimen having a resist pattern formed on a surface thereof using a scanning electron microscope; quantifying means for quantifying a feature of variations in brightness of the image at a desired area of the resist pattern by processing the obtained image; index value calculating means for calculating an index value for relating the feature of variations in brightness of the image quantified by the quantifying means to an amount of reduction from a reference value of a film thickness of the resist pattern; and estimation means for estimating the amount of reduction from the reference value of the film thickness of the resist pattern using the index value calculated by the index value calculating means, wherein the index value is correlated with changes in roughness of a surface of the resist pattern at the desired area, and further comprising means for verifying the calculated index value against a database which registers a relationship between film thickness reduction index values and amounts of film thickness reduction of resist patterns or a relationship between an etching bias and film thickness reduction index values.