A surface inspection apparatus includes a light source section for emitting first and second luminous fluxes; a first irradiation optical system which irradiates the first luminous flux on an inspected object at a first irradiation angle; a second irradiation optical system which irradiates the second luminous flux on an inspected object at a second irradiation angle; a light receiving optical system for receiving scattered light of the first and second luminous fluxes; first and second light receiving sections for converting the scattered light of the first and second luminous fluxes into first and second light receiving signals, respectively; a displacement section for relatively displacing an inspected object and an irradiation luminous flux of the irradiation optical system; and a discrimination section for discriminating the kind of inspection object based on the strength of the scattered light and the scattered range of the first and second light receiving signals.

A method and a device for contactless inspection of objects on a substrate, by means of an inspection device during relative motion between the substrate and the inspection device, wherein the following steps are performed by the method; generating a first image comprising object height information by illuminating at least a portion of the substrate comprising one or more objects by means of first radiator and imaging at least one of said one or more objects illuminated by said first radiator onto a two-dimensional matrix sensor having a portionwise addressable matrix of pixel elements; generating a second image comprising object area information by illuminating at least a portion of the substrate comprising one Or more objects by means of second radiator and imaging at least one of said one or more objects illuminated by said second radiator onto said sensor; extracting the object height information, by means of said sensor, from said first image; and extracting the object area information, by means of said sensor, from said second image.

Inspection method, apparatus, and system for a circuit pattern, in which when various conditions which are necessary in case of inspecting a fine circuit pattern by using an image formed by irradiating white light, a laser beam, or a charged particle beam are set, its operating efficiency can be improved. An inspection target region of an inspection-subject substrate is displayed, and a designated map picture plane and an image of an optical microscope or an electron beam microscope of a designated region are displayed in parallel, thereby enabling a defect distribution and a defect image to be simultaneously seen. Item names of inspecting conditions and a picture plane to display, input, or instruct the contents of the inspecting conditions are integrated, those contents are overlapped to the picture plane and layer-displayed, and all of the item names are displayed in parallel in a tab format in the upper portion of the picture plane of the contents. When a desired item name is clicked, the picture plane is switched and the contents corresponding to the clicked item name are displayed.

Inspection method, apparatus, and system for a circuit pattern, in which when various conditions which are necessary in case of inspecting a fine circuit pattern by using an image formed by irradiating white light, a laser beam, or a charged particle beam are set, its operating efficiency can be improved. An inspection target region of an inspection-subject substrate is displayed, and a designated map picture plane and an image of an optical microscope or an electron beam microscope of a designated region are displayed in parallel, thereby enabling a defect distribution and a defect image to be simultaneously seen. Item names of inspecting conditions and a picture plane to display, input, or instruct the contents of the inspecting conditions are integrated, those contents are overlapped to the picture plane and layer-displayed, and all of the item names are displayed in parallel in a tab format in the upper portion of the picture plane of the contents. When a desired item name is clicked, the picture plane is switched and the contents corresponding to the clicked item name are displayed.

Inspection method, apparatus, and system for a circuit pattern, in which when various conditions which are necessary in case of inspecting a fine circuit pattern by using an image formed by irradiating white light, a laser beam, or a charged particle beam are set, its operating efficiency can be improved. An inspection target region of an inspection-subject substrate is displayed, and a designated map picture plane and an image of an optical microscope or an electron beam microscope of a designated region are displayed in parallel, thereby enabling a defect distribution and a defect image to be simultaneously seen. Item names of inspecting conditions and a picture plane to display, input, or instruct the contents of the inspecting conditions are integrated, those contents are overlapped to the picture plane and layer-displayed, and all of the item names are displayed in parallel in a tab format in the upper portion of the picture plane of the contents. When a desired item name is clicked, the picture plane is switched and the contents corresponding to the clicked item name are displayed.