Method And Apparatus For Inspecting Pattern Defects

An apparatus for inspecting defects on a specimen, comprising:

• a stage which mounts a specimen and movable in at least one direction;
• an illuminator for irradiating light having an ultra-violet wavelength emitted from a light source onto the specimen mounted on the stage while the stage is continuously moving in the at least one direction through a reflection objective lens;
• an image-former for forming an image of light reflected from the specimen by the illumination of the light having the ultra-violet wavelength from the illuminator, which is passed through the reflection objective lens and an image-forming lens;
• a detector which detects the image of light formed by the image-former with an image sensor;
• a memory which stores a reference signal;
• and
• an image processor which processes a signal output from the detector by using the reference signal stored in the memory to detect defects on the specimen;
• wherein the image sensor is a reverse-surface irradiation type image sensor.

A method for inspecting defects on a specimen, comprising the steps of:

• irradiating light having an ultra-violet wavelength emitted from a light source onto a specimen mounted on a stage while the stage is continuously moving in at least one direction through a reflection objective lens;
• forming an image of light reflected from the specimen by the illumination of the light having the ultra-violet wavelength and passed through the reflection objective lens;
• detecting the image of light with an image sensor;
• and
• processing a signal of the detected image of light by using a reference signal to detect defects on the specimen;
• wherein the image of light is detected by a reverse-surface irradiation type image sensor.