Patent ID: 7394532

Claim:
A surface inspection method for inspecting a plurality of inspection subjects having films coated thereon, comprising the steps of: storing inspection data regarding an inspection apparatus and film parameters regarding the films coated on the inspection subjects, by associating with each other, so as to obtain predetermined inspection conditions; wherein the inspection conditions are the wavelength of a laser, an incident angle, and a polarization, and automatically setting a wavelength of a laser, an incident angle, and a polarization as the predetermined inspection conditions for the inspection apparatus by selecting the film parameters of the inspection subjects to be measured in the inspection apparatus by an operator, when performing each measurement, wherein the inspection subjects to be measured are in a manufacturing line, wherein the films coated on the inspection subjects to be measured vary in thickness from one inspection subject to another, and two or more kinds of laser which emit luminance flux having different wavelengths to each other are switched or mixed to make a laser incident on the film-coated inspection subjects at a same incident angle.