It is possible to inspect scratches and staining on a wafer surface on the
basis of an LPD map obtained from a particle counter 11, by providing a
means 21 for detecting aggregation of clustered point defects (LPD) from
two-dimensional distribution information 30 for such fine LPD on the
surface of a silicon wafer, and an improvement in the inspection
efficiency and the precision of judgements of "defective" status can be
achieved. Furthermore, the system is devised so that the trend of
generation of scratches and staining in a specified process can easily be
detected by accumulating wafer surface information such as scratch
information, staining information and the like for the wafer surface
detected by a wafer surface inspection device 11 (especially as image
information or numerical information), and superposing sets of
information thus accumulated. Plans for improving processes can be made
by both the wafer supplier and wafer consumer by sharing such information
with both parties.