Patent ID: 7948618

Claim:
A defect inspection method comprising steps of: (a) observing scattered light from a surface of a sample subjected to a first process; (a1) detecting defects from intensities of the scattered light observed at the step (a), and acquiring positions of the detected defects and intensities of the scattered light caused by the detected defects; (b0) observing the positions on the surface of the sample acquired at the step (a1) with SEM to determine whether the defects can be detected or cannot be detected at the positions; (b) classifying the defects detected at the step (a1) into a SEM detectable group including defects which can be detected at the step (b0) and a SEM undetectable group including defects which cannot be detected at the step (b0); and (c) determining a decision threshold value of a scattered light intensity based on the intensity acquired at the step (a) of the scattered light caused by the defect, which the intensity acquired at the step (a1) of the scattered light caused by is lowest among the intensities acquired at the step (a1) of the scattered light caused by the defects classified into the SEM detectable group at the step (b).