INSPECTING APPARATUS CAPABLE OF ACCURATELY INSPECTING AN OBJECT

For inspecting an object by the use of an inspecting beam, an inspecting apparatus comprises a processing arrangement for processing a first and a second detection signal which are produced when the inspecting beam is scanned on the object and which result from a partial reflected beam and a partial transmitted beam, respectively. The second detection signal is influenced not only by a pinhole defect but also by a particle defect and might indicate a false pinhole defect. In order to remove the false pinhole defect, the processing arrangement compares the second detection signal with the first detection signal so as to judge whether or not the second detection signal indicates a pinhole defect of a size which is not smaller than that of a particle defect indicated by the first detection signal. Preferably, each of the first and the second detection signals is classified into three ranks to facilitate the above-mentioned comparison.