Patent ID: 6846597

Claim:
A photomask inspecting method for inspecting a photomask having a design pattern and a dummy pattern, formed on the basis of photomask data, said photomask inspecting method comprising: preparing defect-discriminating data for discriminating between defects in a design pattern area and defects in a dummy pattern area of a photomask to be inspected; inspecting such photomask on the basis of photomask pattern data, detecting a plurality of defects in such photomask, and determining coordinates indicating positions of such defects; discriminating between defects in the design pattern area and defects in the dummy pattern area on the basis of said positions of such defects and the defect-discriminating data; and examining defects in the design pattern area and defects in the dummy pattern area on the basis of predetermined inspection specifications corresponding to defects in respective areas of such photomask.