Abstract: According to the preferred embodiment, a defect monitor is provided that facilitates the location and characterization of defects in a semiconductor device. The defect monitors are designed to facilitate automated scanning electron microscope in voltage contrast mode (SEM-VC) inspection. The defect monitors include a plurality of flags used to quickly locate defects. The SEM-VC magnification can then be increased to further isolate and characterize the defects as necessary. Thus, the preferred embodiment facilitates the use of SEM-VC scanning procedures to automatically detect and locate faults at low magnification, and then characterize the faults a higher magnification, resulting in a much higher throughput.