Patent ID: 7957579

Claim:
An apparatus for obtaining both of an image of a defect candidate and information for classifying, by using a single imaging apparatus, comprising: a scanning electron microscope for taking an enlarged image of a specimen by irradiating and scanning a converged electron beam onto the specimen and detecting charged particles emanated from the specimen by the irradiation; an image processor for detecting defect candidates on the specimen and classifying the detected defect candidates into one of plural classes by using the image taken by the scanning electron microscope; a memory for storing output from the image processor including images of the detected defect candidates; and a display unit which displays information stored in the memory and an indicator, wherein the display unit displays a distribution of the detected and classified defect candidates in a map format by distinguishing by the classified class, and the display unit also displays a SEM image of a defect candidate, where the SEM image was stored in the memory together with defect candidate information, the SEM image corresponding to the defect candidate which is indicated on the map by the indicator.