Patent ID: 8379196

Claim:
A method for judging whether a semiconductor wafer is a non-defective wafer by using a laser scattering method, the method for judging whether a semiconductor wafer of a plurality of semiconductor wafers is a non-defective wafer based on the number of LPDs measured by setting a minimum size of an LPD to be detected at a predetermined value of 65 nm or less when the number of LPDs on the surfaces of the plurality of semiconductor wafers on which no device pattern is formed is measured for each wafer with a detecting apparatus using a laser scattering method, the method comprising a step of: measuring the number of LPDs whose sizes are equal to or greater than the predetermined value in a wafer plane from the wafer surface and an average value and a standard deviation of haze signals in the wafer plane on a wafer-by-wafer basis; sorting out a semiconductor wafer whose number of measured LPDs per wafer is equal to or smaller than a predetermined number from the semiconductor wafers subjected to the measurement; and judging a semiconductor wafer of the semiconductor wafers subjected to the sorting to be a non-defective wafer on condition that a value of Y calculated from the following equation (1) is equal to or smaller than a predetermined value; Y=σ/μ (1) where σ is the in-plane standard deviation of the haze signals, and μ is the in-plane average value of the haze signals.