Patent ID: 7332359

Claim:
A method for inspecting semiconductor devices comprising: receiving a product name of a semiconductor device to be inspected and a process name that identifies a process by which the semiconductor device is to be inspected; accessing a design database to down load data required for preliminary preparation of inspection of the semiconductor device associated with the semiconductor device, wherein the data required for the preliminary preparation of the inspection of the semiconductor device is identified using the received product name and the received process name; processing the down loaded data required for the preliminary preparation of the inspection of the semiconductor device to set temporary inspection conditions, wherein the temporary inspection conditions comprise at least one of an inspection area of the semiconductor device, an alignment pattern of the semiconductor device, a spacial filter associated with the semiconductor device, or an area of the semiconductor device to be excluded; executing a trial inspection of the semiconductor device to detect defects; classifying the detected defects according to whether the defect is on an optically transparent film; revising the temporary inspection conditions using data obtained by the executed trial inspection; and inspecting another semiconductor device using the revised temporary inspection conditions, wherein the processing is performed before the semiconductor device to be inspected arrives at a location for the trial inspection and the temporary conditions are set without referencing the semiconductor device to be inspected.