Patent ID: 7371489

Claim:
A pattern defect detecting method for detecting a defect in main patterns formed on a photomask to be transferred to photosensitive material, comprising the step of: scanning said photomask using a mask pattern defect inspecting apparatus, one or more sub-patterns being previously formed inside a rectangular region including all of said main patterns therein, in a manner that a part of at least one pattern selected from a group composed of said main patterns and said sub-patterns is included in a prescribed scan target range of said mask pattern defect inspecting apparatus at least in said rectangular region, wherein said scan target range is a range regulated by said mask pattern defect inspecting apparatus, in which data can be processed at one time in said mask pattern defect inspecting apparatus, wherein every scan target range in said rectangular region includes at least one of said main patterns and said sub-patterns, wherever said scan target range is in said rectangular region, wherein said sub-patterns are arranged at an interval narrower than a scanning width of said mask pattern defect inspecting apparatus in a direction perpendicular to a scanning direction and narrower than a length of said scan target range in said scanning direction.