The invention provides a surface inspection apparatus and a method for inspecting
the surface of a sample that are capable of inspecting discriminatingly between
the scratch of various configuration and the adhered foreign object that occur
on the surface of a work target when the work target (for example, an insulating
film on a semiconductor substrate) is subjected to polishing process such as CMP
or grinding process in semiconductor manufacturing process or magnetic head manufacturing
process. In the invention, the scratch and foreign object that occur on the polished
or ground surface of the sample is epi-illuminated and slant-illuminated by use
of approximately same light flux, the difference between the scattered light intensity
emitted from the shallow scratch and that from the foreign object when epi-illumination
is applied and slant illumination is applied to thereby discriminate between the
shallow scratch and the foreign object, and the directionality of the scattered
light when the epi-illumination is applied and the slant illumination is applied
is detected to thereby discriminate between the linear scratch and the foreign object.
