SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPE

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a scanning electron microscope in which the contrast and brightness of a scan image can be adjusted more appropriately.SOLUTION: The scanning electron microscope comprises a scanning unit which scans a specimen with an electron beam, a detector 12 which detects electrons generated from the specimen by irradiating it with an electron beam, an image processing unit which generates image data by making the scan information and a detection signal from the detector 12 correspond with each other, and a control operation unit which adjusts the image quality of image data generated from the image processing unit and the detection signal send to the image processing unit from the detector 12. The image quality is adjusted based on the image data generated in the image processing unit from the detection signal obtained by the detector 12 detecting the reference light 126a input from a reference light output unit 126.