Patent ID: 7130063

Claim:
A micropattern shape measuring system comprising; an irradiating mechanism for irradiating a test pattern place in a scribe line area of a wafer formed to divide the wafer into a plurality of semiconductor devices with an electron beam; a detector for detecting charged particles from the wafer; a measuring unit for measuring first widths of a plurality of patterns formed in the test pattern place based on a signal from the detector; a storage unit for communicating with a measuring mechanism and storing first widths and second widths, the measuring mechanism measuring the second widths of the plurality of patterns formed in the test pattern place and being obtained by irradiating the plurality of patterns with a light beam; and a calculating unit for calculating first amount of change between the first widths and the second widths and sending the first amount of change to the storage unit; wherein the irradiating mechanism irradiates a dummy pattern formed in a semiconductor device in the wafer with the electron beam, the detector detects charged particles from the wafer, the measuring unit measures a third width of the dummy pattern based on a signal from the detector, the storage unit stores the third width of the dummy pattern, the calculating unit estimates a fourth width of the dummy pattern based on the stored first and second widths and third width in the storage unit, and a display unit displays the fourth width of the dummy pattern.