Methods and systems for generating an indication of a changing electrostatic field between a sense electrode of a capacitance sensing integrated circuit and a specimen under inspection are presented. The capacitance sensing integrated circuit is an integrated circuit that includes a number of sense electrodes and sense electronics. By fabricating the elements of the capacitance sensing integrated circuit as a single microelectronic chip, the sense electrodes can be miniaturized to sizes that enable inspection of fine line patterns common in modern semiconductor manufacturing. In one embodiment, the sense electrodes are metallic contacts. In another embodiment the sense electrodes are field effect transistors (FETs) with a floating gate. The sense electronics generate an indication of the changing electrostatic field between each sense electrode and a specimen under inspection as the specimen is scanned relative to the capacitance sensing integrated circuit.