Patent ID: 7061602

Claim:
A method of inspecting a specimen, comprising the steps of: determining an inspection condition by selecting among plural inspection conditions; and inspecting a specimen processed in a process line under said determined inspection condition; wherein the step of determining an inspection condition includes the following steps of: inspecting the specimen to detect defect candidates under plural inspection conditions by illuminating a light on the specimen and detecting light from the sample which is illuminated by said illuminating light; storing position information of defect candidates with an inspection condition thereof detected by the step of inspecting; comparing said stored position information of defect candidates detected under said plural inspection conditions to judge an identity of said position information; selecting defect candidates to be reviewed among said identity judged defect candidates; reviewing said selected defect candidates and classifying said selected defect candidates; and determining said inspection condition of the specimen by using the classified information of said selected defect candidates obtained at the step of reviewing.