Patent ID: 8914754

Claim:
A inspection apparatus comprising: a processor; memory connected to the processor; an imaging device connected to the processor, configured for cell-to-cell inspection of at least one of a reticle or a semiconductor wafer; and computer executable program code configured to execute on the processor, wherein the computer executable program code is configured to: perform cell-to-cell inspection of regions of the reticle or semiconductor wafer identified as appropriate for cell-to-cell inspection based on a semiconductor design database; and prohibit cell-to-cell inspection of regions of the reticle or semiconductor wafer identified as inappropriate for cell-to-cell inspection based on the semiconductor design database, regions inappropriate for cell-to-cell inspection including substantially similar elements wherein one of said substantially similar elements is altered by optical proximity correction; wherein the executable program code is further configured to analyze the semiconductor design database to identify regions of the reticle or semiconductor wafer appropriate for cell-to-cell inspection; and wherein analyzing the semiconductor design database comprises at east at least one of autocorrelation analysis or hierarchy analysis.