Method of manufacturing photo mask, mask pattern shape evaluation apparatus, method of judging photo mask defect corrected portion, photo mask defect corrected portion judgment apparatus, and method of manufacturing a semiconductor device

A mask pattern shape evaluation apparatus comprising:

• a first acquisition section which acquires a pattern image of a first region on a photo mask including a defect of a pattern;
• an extraction section which extracts a pattern contour from the acquired pattern image to acquire pattern contour extracted data;
• a first production section which produces first graphic data based on the pattern contour extracted data and a pixel size on the photo mask;
• a second acquisition section which acquires pattern data including the first region and corresponding to a second region from design data of the photo mask;
• a second production section which produces second graphic data from the acquired pattern data;
• a replacement section which replaces the second graphic data with the first graphic data to produce third graphic data only in a region where the first graphic data is superimposed upon the second graphic data;
• a third production section which produces transfer patterns of pattern shapes represented by the second and third graphic data;
• and
• a comparison section which compares the transfer patterns to judge whether or not the defect needs to be corrected.