A semiconductor device has a plurality of divided elements which are formed over a substrate, each of which containing a film having a predetermined pattern with the long-axis direction and the short-axis direction definable therein, and are arranged in a distributed manner in the same layer in the in-plane direction of the substrate, wherein the plurality of divided elements are arranged so that every adjacent divided element in a first direction has the long-axis direction thereof aligned differently from those of the neighbors, or, so that every adjacent divided element in the first direction is shifted in a second direction, which is orthogonal to the first direction, by an amount smaller than the length of the divided element in the second direction.