Inline measurement and inspection technologies and equipments are the only effective means to ensure manufacturing quality and yield of integrated circuits (IC). It is of great significance to realize fast, nondestructive, and precise measurement and inspection of critical dimension (CD), overlay, defects, and so on, during IC manufacturing. In this paper, we first review the current status of optical measurement and inspection techniques for dimensional metrology and defect inspection in IC manufacturing, including CD and overlay measurement, unpatterned and patterned wafer defect inspection, as well as mask defect inspection. Then, we introduce the potential measurement and inspection challenges in advanced technology nodes, for example, smaller feature sizes and more complex three-dimensional architectures. Finally, we present the perspectives of optical measurement and inspection for future IC manufacturing, including hybrid metrology, ultra-short wavelength metrology, high- and super-resolution imaging, as well as advanced data analytics.