Patent ID: 7012439

Claim:
A method of inspecting a sample, comprising: a. in a first direction, scanning a first portion of the sample with an incident charged particle beam and detecting a portion of charged particles emitted from the sample in response to the incident charged particle beam; b. determining a general location of a defect based on the detected charged particles from the first direction scan, wherein the general location corresponds to a second portion of the sample which is outside the first direction scan; c. in a second direction, scanning the second portion of the sample with an incident charged particle beam and detecting a portion of charged particles emitted from the sample in response to the incident charged particle beam, the second direction being at an angle to the first direction; and d. determining a specific location of a defect based on the detected charged particles from the second direction scan, wherein the specific location corresponds to a third portion of the sample which is contained within the second portion of the sample.