Abstract: A process management system in accordance with the present invention includes inspection apparatuses for inspecting defects on a wafer, the inspection apparatuses being connected through a communication network, inspection information and image information obtained from these inspection apparatuses being collected to construct a data base and an image file, therein definition of defects is given by combinations of elements which characterize the defect based on the inspection information and the image information obtained from the inspection apparatuses. By giving definition of the defect, characteristics of the defect can be subdivided and known. Therefore, the cause of a defect can be studied.

Abstract: A process management system in accordance with the present invention includes inspection apparatuses for inspecting defects on a wafer, the inspection apparatuses being connected through a communication network, inspection information and image information obtained from these inspection apparatuses being collected to construct a data base and an image file, therein definition of defects is given by combinations of elements which characterize the defect based on the inspection information and the image information obtained from the inspection apparatuses. By giving definition of the defect, characteristics of the defect can be subdivided and known. Therefore, the cause of a defect can be studied.

Abstract: A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device includes fetching inspection chip information including information of a dust-particle/fault on an inspection chip by irradiating the inspection chip of a semiconductor wafer with an optical beam and by detecting the scattering/diffracting beam of the optical beam, fetching reference chip information as information of a reference chip without a dust-particle/fault, comparing the inspection chip information and the reference chip information to determine a dust-particle/fault, and determining whether the dust-particle/fault is located on a pattern or outside of the pattern by matching between the dust-particle/fault information and design pattern data as data of a prepared pattern. The dust-particle/fault is determined to be a fatal dust-particle/fault when the dust-particle fault is located on the pattern or to be a non-fatal dust-particle fault when the dust-particle/fault is located outside of the pattern.