Patent Document ID: 20120044262
Application ID: 13318718
Patent Status: 0

Claim One:
1. A surface observation apparatus that observes a surface of a sample, comprising: an image acquiring unit ( 109 ) that acquires surface images of a plurality of parts on the surface of the sample ( 105 ); an image processing unit ( 114 ) that receives the plurality of surface images acquired by the image acquiring unit ( 109 ) and processes the received surface images; an indicator-based evaluation value calculating unit ( 113 b ) that calculates an evaluation value for each of the plurality of surface images processed by the image processing unit ( 114 ) in accordance with a plurality of evaluation indicators; input means ( 116 , 118 ) for inputting an evaluation criterion; a correlation coefficient calculating unit ( 113 f ) that calculates a correlation coefficient between the evaluation criterion input by the input means and each of the plurality of evaluation indicators, and selects an evaluation indicator that has the maximum correlation coefficient among the calculated correlation coefficients; and a display unit ( 113 d , 115 ) that displays on a screen, the evaluation indicator that has the maximum correlation coefficient selected by the correlation coefficient calculating unit ( 113 f ), as a recommended evaluation indicator.