Patent ID: 8855402

Claim:
An image creation method of creating a filter image for removing a pseudo defect to inspect presence/absence of a defect on a substrate, said method comprising: a filter image creation step of creating the filter image by replacing a picture element value of any one of picture elements located on a circumference of a circle about a center position of a registered image with a maximum value of picture element values of a plurality of picture elements selected from among the picture elements located on the circumference; a transformed image creation step of creating a transformed image by performing polar coordinate transformation on position coordinates of picture elements in the registered image; and a data creation step of creating maximum value data indicating a relation between a radius of the circle about the center position and a maximum value of picture element values of all of the picture elements located on the circumference of the circle, based on the created transformed image, wherein said filter image creation step creates the filter image by replacing the picture element values of all of the picture elements located on the circumference of the circle about the center position with a maximum value determined corresponding to the radius of the circle, based on the created maximum value data.