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.