PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a surface defect inspection apparatus and a surface defect inspection method capable of performing a detection of LPDs on a wafer surface and a detection of a dark field image in parallel with each other and having an improved detection sensitivity of the LPDs. SOLUTION: The surface defect inspection apparatus includes: a light source 10 applying a laser beam to the surface of a wafer 1 from an oblique direction; a focusing optical system 21 focusing light scattered and irregularly reflected on the wafer surface by the radiation into an image; a surface sensor 22 having a light-receiving surface at a focusing position of the scattered and irregularly reflected light; and an image processing unit 32 acquiring an image signal from the surface sensor 22 and forming an image on the surface of the wafer 1 based on the image signal. While displacing the relative position between the optical axis of the irradiated laser beam and the wafer 1, the image processing unit 32 acquires a plurality of image signals corresponding to a plurality of areas on the waver 1, partially superimposed according to the displacement and synthesizes the dark filed image, with the speckle noise removed. COPYRIGHT: (C)2012,JPO&INPIT
