disclosed is a method of inspecting an object to be inspected in a semiconductor manufacturing process , for resolving the problem to increase defect detection sensitivity . an image capture means is used to image capture a designated area of the object to be inspected ; a defect is detected in the captured image ; a circuit pattern is recognized from the captured image ; a characteristic value is computed , relating to an image tone and shape , from the detected defect ; a characteristic value is computed , relating to the image tone and shape , from the recognized circuit pattern ; either a specified defect or circuit pattern is filtered and extracted from the detected defect and the recognized circuit pattern ; a mapping characteristic value is determined from the characteristic value of either the filtered and extracted specified defect or circuit pattern ; and the distribution of the determined characteristic values is displayed onscreen in a map format .