Patent ID: 7269280

Claim:
A pattern inspecting method comprising the steps of: picking up an image of a substrate with a pattern formed thereon; subjecting a signal obtained by the image pick-up to A/D conversion to afford a digital image; comparing the digital image with a stored reference image to produce a difference image between the digital image and the reference image; subjecting the difference image to a first threshold to extract first defect candidates; storing images of the extracted first defect candidates together with information on feature quantities of the images of the first defect candidates; subjecting the stored images of the first defect candidates and the stored information of feature quantities of the images of the first defect candidates to a second threshold that is higher than the first threshold; extracting second defect candidates from among the first defect candidates based on the second threshold applied in the step of subjecting the stored images; and displaying on a screen a state of distribution of the extracted second defect candidates on the substrate.