Patent ID: 6872943

Claim:
A charged particle beam apparatus, comprising: a charge particle source; a lens for focusing a charge particle beam; a detector for detecting charged particles emitted from a sample by irradiation of said charge particle beam; and a control processor for forming a profile waveform based on an output of the detector, wherein said charged particle beam apparatus further comprises a deflector for scanning said charge particle beam with its direction being inclined to the original optical axis of the charged particles or with its direction being inclined to a normal to a sample surface, and said control processor judges which exists between positions corresponding to peaks, a protrusion or a depression, on the basis of an increase or decrease of a peak width of said profile waveform, wherein if the peak width of said profile waveform becomes larger as compared with that obtained when said charge particle beam is scanned with its direction being not inclined, said control processor judges that the pattern is formed in such a way that the side face of a pattern edge exhibiting the peak faces a direction opposite to the direction of said inclined charge particle beam.