Patent ID: 7369224

Claim:
A surface inspection apparatus comprising: an illumination means for illuminating a pattern which is formed through a predetermined pattern forming process containing a process of exposure of a resist layer formed on a subject substrate to have a periodicity with a linearly polarized light; a setting means for setting a direction of said subject substrate in such a manner that a plane of vibration of said linear polarization and a direction of repetition of said pattern are obliquely to each other; an extraction means for extracting a polarization component having a plane of vibration perpendicular to said plane of vibration of the linear polarization out of specularly reflected light from said pattern; and an image forming means for forming an image of the surface of said substrate on the basis of the extracted light; wherein a pattern forming condition in said pattern forming process is specified on the basis of the light intensity of the image of the surface of the substrate formed by said image forming means.