Patent ID: 7181059

Claim:
A system for inspecting electrical circuits comprising: a boundary identifier operative to generate a representation of boundaries of elements in an image of an electrical circuit which is under inspection; an element matching defect identifier operative to receive said representation of boundaries of elements and a reference representation including reference boundaries for said electrical circuit and to compare boundaries in said representation of boundaries to said reference boundaries to identify element matching defects, said element matching defects including at least one of: elements in said reference representation but missing from said representation of boundaries, excess elements in said representation of boundaries that are missing from said reference representation, and elements in said representation of boundaries defining a different type of element than a corresponding element in said reference representation; and a boundary defect identifier operative to receive said boundaries of elements in said electrical circuit under inspection and to compare a plurality of coordinates along at least a portion of some boundaries with reference to a corresponding region of acceptable coordinates for said portion of some boundaries to detect boundary defects.