公开(公告)号：US06413688B1

公开(公告)日：2002-07-02

申请号：US09750694

申请日：2001-01-02

申请人： Satoshi Akutagawa ,  Koujiro Suzuki

发明人： Satoshi Akutagawa ,  Koujiro Suzuki

IPC分类号： G03F900

摘要： In the method for inspecting plate patterns which are formed by exposure and development by use of exposure data patterns having a plurality of patterns, the method executes a fine pattern removal processing step, to a plurality of patterns included in the exposure data patterns, including a logical sum processing for changing a plurality of overlaid patterns into a sole pattern; a minus-sizing processing for fining a side of the patterns in a first width; and a plus-sizing processing for thickening the side of the patterns in the first width, thereby forming a reference data pattern. This fine pattern removal processing can remove the fine patterns acting as a cause of pseudo defect included in the exposure data patterns. In the following pattern inspection process, the plate pattern is compared with the reference data pattern, and the disagreement between both the patterns is detected as defective pattern. As the fine patterns acting as a cause of the pseudo defects are removed from the exposure data patterns, in the pattern inspection process, the disagreement between the plate patterns and the reference data patterns is limited to the intrinsic defective patterns, and it is possible to decrease fairly the number of steps of the pattern inspection process.