An object of the invention is to provide a scanning electron microscope which forms an electric field to lift up, highly efficiently, electrons discharged from a hole bottom or the like even if a sample surface is an electrically conductive material. To achieve the above object, according to the invention, a scanning electron microscope including a deflector which deflects a scanning position of an electron beam, and a sample stage for loading a sample thereon, is proposed. The scanning electron microscope includes a control device which controls the deflector or the sample stage in such a way that before scanning a beam on a measurement target pattern, a lower layer pattern situated in a lower layer of the measurement target pattern undergoes beam irradiation on another pattern situated in the lower layer.