Patent ID: 8885949

Claim:
A method of determining a pattern shape, comprising: setting, by a computer, as a point-of-interest position, a first reference position associated with a first pattern; setting, by a computer, as a determination reference position, a second reference position associated with a second pattern; setting, by a computer, a plurality of determination areas each having a predetermined range of distances from the first reference position to points in the determination area, the first pattern being located within one of the determination areas; setting, by a computer, allowable dimensional differences for the determination areas, wherein: each of the determination area has a corresponding allowable dimensional difference, each of the allowable dimensional differences has a value corresponding to the predetermined range of distances of the corresponding determination area, and the value of the allowable dimensional difference for a determination area located further away from the first reference position is larger than the value of the allowable dimensional difference for a determination area located closer to the first reference position; and determining, by a computer, whether the second pattern has a pattern shape identical with the first pattern, based on whether a dimensional difference between a dimension of the first pattern and a corresponding dimension of the second pattern is less than or equal to the value of the allowable dimensional difference of the determination area within which the first pattern is located.