Patent ID: 8090190

Claim:
A method of reviewing defects using an inspection apparatus including a scanning electron microscope, a detector for detecting secondary electrons generated from primary electrons reflected from a sample, a digitizing means for digitizing a signal corresponding to the detected secondary electrons, an image processing unit for processing acquired images, a recipe unit for storing a plurality of recipes, and a whole control unit for performing automatic defect review and classification, the method comprising the steps of: irradiating a sample with a scanning electron microscope; acquiring an image of an area on the sample including a defect with a first magnification by using position information of the defect which is acquired using the inspection apparatus; performing, using a CPU, a first-extraction of the defect by comparing the acquired image of the area on the sample including the defect with the first magnification to a reference image having the first magnification; acquiring, using the CPU, an image of an area on the sample including the extracted defect with a second magnification; performing, using the CPU, a second-extraction of the defect by comparing the acquired image of the area on the sample including the defect with the second magnification to a reference image having the second magnification; classifying, using a defect classifying function section of the CPU, the defect extracted by second-extracting step; and performing an estimation step, wherein: the reference image having the second magnification is estimated to be a non-defective image based on the image of the area including the extracted defect with the second magnification, the reference image having the second magnification is estimated to be a non-defective image based on the image of the area including the defect with the first magnification, or the reference image having the second magnification is estimated to be a non-defective image based on the image of the area including the defect with the first magnification, the image of the reference image having the first magnification, and the image of the area including the extracted defect with the second magnification.