Patent ID: 8134125

Claim:
An inspection method for detecting a defect of a specimen by using an electron beam, said method comprising the steps of: generating the electron beam; converging the electron beam on the specimen by an objective lens; applying a retarding voltage to the specimen for decelerating the electron beam; continuously moving a stage holding the specimen during scanning by the electron beam; emanating a predetermined emanation region of the specimen by scanning consecutively along a plurality of scanning lines across the emanation region so that adjacent scanning lines are scanned in opposite direction and by scanning along an edge of the emanation region from an end of a preceding scanning line to a start of a next scanning line with the converged electron beam; controlling a speed of said scanning with said converged electron beam so that the scanning speed along the edge of the emanation region is faster than a speed of scanning along a scanning line across the emanation region, and so that the amount of an irradiation by the electron beam on the end point of the preceding scanning line is the same as that on the start point of the next scanning line; detecting charged particles emanating from the specimen and converting said detected charged particles into an electrical signal; storing picture information conveyed by said electrical signal; comparing a picture with another by using said stored picture information; and detecting a defect of the specimen by said comparing step.