Abstract: An inspection apparatus includes a light source that emits light, an optical amplifier that amplifies input light and outputs the amplified light, an optical system (an objective lens, an imaging optical system, and a scanning optical system) that irradiates a semiconductor device with the light from the light source and guides light from the semiconductor device to the optical amplifier, and a photodetector that detects the light output from the optical amplifier, and the optical amplifier amplifies the input light so that saturation does not occur.

Abstract: A semiconductor inspecting method according to an embodiment includes a step of scanning a semiconductor device with laser light to acquire characteristic information indicative of characteristics of an electrical signal of the semiconductor device in response to irradiation with the laser light for each of irradiation positions of the laser light and to generate a first pattern image of the semiconductor device based on characteristic information for each of irradiation positions, a step of generating a second pattern image of the semiconductor device based on a layout image of the semiconductor device and current path information indicative of a current path in the semiconductor device, and a step of acquiring matching information indicative of a relative relationship between the first pattern image and the layout image based on a result of positional alignment between the first pattern image and the second pattern image.