In a foreign matter inspection apparatus for a semiconductor wafer, a PMT which detects reflection light, an amplifier which amplifies a signal detected by the PMT and in which response characteristics of amplification are controlled by a control signal, an A/D converter which converts the signal amplified by the amplifier into a predetermined code and outputs the code, a control circuit which generates a control signal based on information of the semiconductor wafer having a correlation with the reflection light, and a data processing circuit which detects a foreign matter on the semiconductor wafer based on the code output from the A/D converter are provided.