To provide a defect inspection apparatus by which a defect can be inspected with high throughput even when a charged particle beam is used.

By charged particle beams which are emitted from respective charged particle emission points (a) to (j) of an emitter array 1, images of the respective charged particle emission points are formed on a wafer 14 by a magnetic tablet lens which is constituted of a first projection lens 3 and a second projection lens 5. From their image-formation points, secondary electrons according to a pattern on the wafer are emitted. A deflector 8 is installed behind a contrast aperture 7, and all the charged particle beams are deflected uniformly. By their deflection, irradiation positions to the wafer 14 of the charged particle beams are changed, and a scanning operation can be performed. The secondary electrons are detected by respective detectors of a secondary-electron detector array 2, and they are guided to a photomultiplier 11 via the window 16 of a vacuum chamber 15.