Patent ID: 8903158

Claim:
An inspection system comprising: an optical image capture unit configured to photoelectrically capture an optical image of an object to be inspected by irradiating said object with light; a reference image generating unit configured to generate a reference image from design data that was used to form a pattern on said object to be inspected; a reference image filtering unit configured to change a resolution characteristic of the reference image to generate a filtered reference image; a comparing unit configured to compare said optical image with said filtered reference image; and a data extracting unit configured to determine the coordinates of a portion of the pattern on said object determined to be defective by said comparison, and further configured to extract an extracted design data portion including only data of the pattern around each detected defect of predetermined dimensions corresponding to said coordinates from said design data, as well as configured to extract a portion of inspection sensitivity-specifying pattern data paired with said extracted design data portion, then output said extracted design data portion and said extracted sensitivity-specifying pattern data portion, and determine whether to perform a lithography simulation of a detected defect based on the data of the pattern around the detected defect and the inspection sensitivity-specifying pattern data portion paired with the extracted design data portion.