Patent ID: 7851753

Claim:
A method for reviewing a defect on a sample surface by using an electron microscope, comprising the steps of: positioning a defect to be reviewed on the sample surface into a visual field of a detection optical system in a vacuum environment inside a vacuum chamber on a basis of position information of the defect acquired in advance by detection with another inspection apparatus; detecting light scattered from said sample using a detector disposed outside said vacuum chamber, the scattered light being passed through an objective lens disposed inside said vacuum chamber and movable in a height direction of the sample surface independently of the detector so as to obtain a higher numerical aperture for the objective lens as compared with an objective lens disposed outside said vacuum chamber by illuminating said defect positioned inside said visual field with a laser through an inside of a lens barrel of the objective lens by obliquely illuminating said defect from a plurality of directions having mutually different incidence angles so as to conduct a dark field illumination, a position of the objective lens being set based on normal reflected light of the illuminated laser which is detected through the inside of the lens barrel of the objective lens; processing a signal acquired by detecting said scattered light which is passed through said objective lens disposed inside said vacuum chamber so as to have the higher numerical aperture to distinguish a defect on the surface of said sample from a defect below the surface; positioning said defect distinguished as existing on the surface of said sample into an observation visual field of the electron microscope inside said vacuum chamber; and reviewing said defect positioned inside said observation visual field by the electron microscope.