Apparatus and method for contact failure inspection in semiconductor devices

There is provided a contact failure inspection system and method for semiconductor devices and a method of manufacturing semiconductor devices. Using digitized values for electron signals detected using a scanning electron microscope, contacts can be inspected to identify failures such as non-open contact holes. The contact failure inspection is performed by comparing the electron signal value detected from a unit area including at least one contact hole with values representative of the electron signal corresponding to a normal contact. The electron signal 13 compared with an allowable range of values and the status of the contact hole, ie: open or non-open, 13 classified in accordance with the comparison.