Patent ID: 6963067

Claim:
A sample observation method comprising the steps of: irradiating an electron beam to a sample at a first incident angle, and detecting a secondary signal emitted from the sample to acquire a scanning electron microscope image of the sample; repeating the step while varying a focus to acquire a plurality of scanning electron microscope images at the first incident angle; irradiating an electron beam to the sample at a second incident angle different from the first incident angle, and detecting a secondary signal emitted from the sample in order to acquire a scanning electron microscope image of the sample; repeating the step while varying a focus to acquire a plurality of scanning electron microscope images at the second incident angle; extracting from the multiple scanning electron microscope images acquired at the first incident angle image domains that are in focus and generating a first composed image; extracting from the multiple scanning electron microscope images acquired at the second incident angle image domains that are in focus, and generating a second composed image; and matching the first composed image with the second composed image, detecting the center of tilting of each of the two-composed images, causing the centers of tilting to be aligned with each other, and observing a stereoscopic view from the two composed images.