Patent ID: 6974963

Claim:
A substrate inspection apparatus for inspecting a substrate with a resist being coated on a surface thereof and the coated resist being performed with exposing and developing process, comprising: a substrate mounting portion for mounting the substrate; light irradiating means for irradiating a light having a predetermined wavelength from a surface side of the substrate to a region including a first inspection pattern formed on a base film and a second inspection pattern formed on a resist; a light detection portion for detecting the light irradiated from the light irradiating means and reflected at the surface of the substrate; means for preparing a spectrum for an inspection pattern from a diffracted light based on an output detected by the light detection portion; means for preparing, by variously varying the respective line widths of the first inspection pattern and the second inspection pattern and a mutual positional relationship in a horizontal direction of the first inspection pattern and the second inspection pattern, the group of spectra for comparison respectively corresponding to combinations of the line width of the second inspection pattern and the mutual positional relationship; and comparison and selection means for comparing the group of spectra for comparison and the spectrum for inspection pattern and selecting one most approximate to the spectrum for inspection among the group of spectra for comparison; wherein from the selected spectrum for comparison, a line width of the second inspection pattern which is a resist pattern formed on the substrate, and the positional relationship in a horizontal direction on the substrate are estimated.