Patent ID: 7415362

Claim:
An image defect inspection apparatus for detecting a defect on a surface of a sample by comparing corresponding portions in a captured image of the surface of said sample comprising: a plurality of processor elements configured to perform said defect detection in parallel on regions created by dividing said captured image, each of the plurality of processor elements is configured to be capable of reexamining a region at which a defect is detected by a respective processor element, in said captured image; and a processor unit configured to receive information in parallel from said plurality of processor elements concerning a respective defect detected and reexamined by each said processor elements, and to output defect information as a set of defect information, wherein each individual one of said processor elements is further configured to perform said reexamination on a defect detected by said individual processor element, before sending said information concerning the defect detected by said individual processor element to said processor unit.