Patent ID: 8670116

Claim:
A defect inspecting method comprising: a pre-scan defect inspecting process including: a pre-scan irradiating step for casting irradiation light onto the surface of a sample, a pre-scan detecting step for detecting the scattered lights emanating from the area of the sample surface irradiated in the pre-scan irradiating step, and a pre-scan defect information collecting step for obtaining information on preselected defects present on the sample surface on the basis of the scattered lights detected in the pre-scan detecting step; a near-field defect inspecting process including: a near-field irradiating step in which the distance between the sample surface and a near-field head is adjusted on the basis of the information on the preselected defects obtained in the pre-scan defect information collecting step so that the irradiation of the sample surface is started from the position where the near-field head has been adjusted, a near-field detecting step for detecting near-field light response generated from that area on the sample surface which is irradiated in the near-field irradiating step, and a near-field defect information collecting step for obtaining information on the preselected defects present on the sample surface on the basis of the near-field light response detected in the near-field detecting step; and a merging process for inspecting defects present on the sample surface on the basis of the result obtained by merging the information on the preselected defects on the sample surface obtained in the pre-scan defect information collecting step and the information on the preselected defects present on the sample surface obtained in the near-field defect information collecting step.