Method and its apparatus for inspecting defects

A method of inspecting defects, said method comprising the steps of:

• immersing a sample to be inspected in a liquid at a pre-inspection liquid immersion unit and conducting interfacial bubble removal of the sample;
• transferring the sample from the pre-inspection liquid immersion unit onto a table of a detection optical system;
• forming, in a state where a clearance between a sample and a front-end portion of detection optical system is filled with a liquid, an optical image of the sample by illuminating the sample by use of elliptically polarized light and detecting reflected/diffracted light generated from the sample by the illumination, in a polarized form with the detection optical system;
• acquiring as an image signal by use of an image sensor, the optical image formed in said step of forming the optical image of the sample;
• and
• detecting defects on the sample on the basis of the image signal acquired in said acquisition step.

An apparatus for inspecting defects, said apparatus comprising:

• pre-inspection liquid immersion unit for immersing a sample to be inspected and conducting interfacial bubble removal of the sample;
• a table unit which mounts a sample, said table unit being movable in a plane;
• a transferrin unit for transferrin the sample from the re-inspection liquid immersion unit to the table unit;
• a detection optical system which has an objective lens for forming an optical image of the sample mounted on said table unit;
• a liquid immersion unit which fills a clearance between the sample and a front-end portion of said detection optical system, with a liquid;
• an image sensor which acquires the optical image of the sample formed by said detection optical system in a state where the clearance between the sample and the front-end portion of said detection optical system is filled with the liquid, said image sensor further transmitting the optical image in an image signal form;
• and
• an image processor unit which processes the image signal transmitted from said image sensor, and detects defects on the sample.