Patent ID: 8754935

Claim:
A microstructure inspection method which inspects an angle of a sidewall of a microstructure pattern, the method comprising: obtaining scanning electron microscope (SEM) images of a sample microstructure pattern having a sidewall of which angle is unknown and plural reference microstructure patterns having sidewalls of which angles are known and are different from each other under plural SEM conditions having mutually different current values of electron beams or mutually different amplification values of photo-multiplier tubes; measuring a white band-width variation of each of the sample microstructure pattern and the plural reference microstructure patterns, the white-band width variation being an amount of change of a width of a white band at an edge portion of the microstructure pattern in the SEM image when the current value of the electron beam is changed or the amplification value of the photo-multiplier tube is changed; obtaining a correlation between an angle of a sidewall of a microstructure pattern and a white band-width variation, by using the measurement results of the white band-width variations of the plural reference microstructure patterns; and calculating the angle of the sidewall of the sample microstructure pattern, by using the correlation and the measurement result of the white band-width variation of the sample microstructure pattern.