Patent ID: 7211796

Claim:
A substrate inspection apparatus comprising: at least one electron beam irradiation device which emits at least one electron beam and causes the at least one electron beam to irradiate a surface of a substrate having a first member and a second member which are formed thereon, a material of the first member being an insulator and a material of the second member being different from the material of the first member, a potential of the first member being initially positive with respect to the second member, thereby a potential difference occurs in an area to be inspected in the surface of the substrate; an electron beam detector which detects at least one of a secondary electron, a reflected electron and a backscattered electron that are generated from the substrate which has been irradiated by the electron beam and which outputs a signal that forms a one-dimensional or two-dimensional image of the surface of the substrate; a mapping projection optical system which causes imaging of at least one of the secondary electron, the reflected electron and the backscattered electron on said electron beam detector; and a first electron beam irradiation condition controller which controls said at least one electron beam irradiation device to cause said at least one electron beam to irradiate the surface of the substrate under an irradiation condition to reduce the potential difference in the area to be inspected, wherein said irradiation condition includes a condition to make the first member negatively charged.