| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080212097 | Method of inspection, a method of manufacturing, an inspection apparatus, a substrate, a mask, a lithography apparatus and a lithographic cell - Each target used in a method of measuring overlay using a scatterometer includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion has features varying only in a first direction and the second portion has features only varying in a second direction. The first and second directions are orthogonal, thus eliminating cross talk between the directions, and improving the accuracy of overlay error calculations. | 09-04-2008 |
| 20080218767 | Inspection method and apparatus, lithographic apparatus, lithographic processing cell and device manufacturing method, substrate for use in the methods - An overlay marker for use with a scatterometer includes two overlying two-dimensional gratings. The two gratings have the same pitch but the upper grating has a lower duty ratio. Cross-talk between X and Y overlay measurements can therefore be avoided. The gratings may be directly overlying or off set so as to be interleaved in one or two directions. | 09-11-2008 |
| 20090027691 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method with Reduced Scribe Lane Usage for Substrate Measurement - In a device manufacturing method and a metrology apparatus, metrology measurements are executed using radiation having a first wavelength. Subsequently a grid of conducting material is applied on the substrate, the grid having grid openings which in a first direction in the plane of the grid are smaller than the first wavelength. The space in the scribe lane where the measurement target was, is now shielded and may be used again in further layers or processing steps of the substrate. | 01-29-2009 |
| 20090097008 | Alignment Method and Apparatus, Lithographic Apparatus, Metrology Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method - An alignment sensor includes a spatially coherent radiation source that supplies a radiation beam to an angle-resolved scatterometer. Alignment is performed by detecting beats in the scatter spectrum during scanning of the substrate relative to the scatterometer. | 04-16-2009 |
| 20090244538 | Lithographic Apparatus and Device Manufacturing Method Using Overlay Measurement - A lithographic apparatus arranged to transfer a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate includes a reference set of gratings provided in the substrate, the reference set including two reference gratings having line elements in a first direction and one reference grating having line elements in a second, perpendicular, direction. A measurement set of gratings is provided on top of the reference set of gratings, the measurement set comprising three measurement gratings similar to the reference gratings. Two of the measurement gratings are oppositely biased in the second direction relative to the respective reference gratings. An overlay measurement device is provided to measure asymmetry of the three gratings in the reference set and the measurement set, and to derive from the measured asymmetry the overlay in both the first and second direction. | 10-01-2009 |
| 20100091258 | SUBSTRATE MEASUREMENT METHOD AND APPARATUS - A method and apparatus for measurement of a characteristic of a substrate. A target is present on the substrate and a measurement is performed during a scanning movement of the substrate. The scanning movement of the substrate is a linear movement and the measurement includes obtaining a reflected image of the target using a pulsed light source, the duration of a single light pulse being less than 100 psec. A lithographic apparatus includes such a measurement apparatus, and a device manufacturing method includes such a measurement method. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100092881 | Process, Apparatus and Device - A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to condition a radiation beam, a support for a patterning device, a substrate table for a substrate, a projection system, and a control system. The patterning device is capable of imparting the radiation beam with a pattern in its cross-section to form a patterned radiation beam. The projection system is configured to project the patterned radiation beam as an image onto a target portion of the substrate along a scan path. The scan path is defined by a trajectory in a scanning direction of an exposure field of the lithographic apparatus. The control system is coupled to the support, the substrate table and the projection system for controlling an action of the support, the substrate table and the projection system, respectively. The control system is configured to correct a local distortion of the image in a region along the scan path by a temporal adjustment of the image in that region, hereby reducing the intra-field overlay errors. | 04-15-2010 |
| 20100161099 | Optimization Method and a Lithographic Cell - Variables in each step in a double patterning lithographic process are recorded and characteristics of intermediate features in a double patterning process measured. The final feature is then modeled, and the values of the variables optimized. | 06-24-2010 |
| 20100277706 | Method of Measurement, an Inspection Apparatus and a Lithographic Apparatus - According to an example, a first layer of a substrate comprises a plurality of gratings having a periodicity P. A second layer of the substrate comprises a plurality of gratings, overlapping with the first set of gratings, and having a periodicity of NP, where N is an integer greater than 2. A first set of gratings has a bias of +d and the second set of gratings has a bias of −d. A beam of radiation is projected onto the gratings and the angle resolved spectrum of the reflected radiation detected. The overlay error is then calculated using the angle resolved spectrum of the reflected radiation. | 11-04-2010 |
| 20100323461 | Lithographic Method and Arrangement - A method is described for obtaining information for use in modeling of a lithographic process. A pattern feature is formed on a target portion of a substrate by projecting a beam of radiation onto the target portion of the substrate. For that target portion the lithographic process is characterized by one or both of a first property that varies in a first direction along a surface of the substrate, and a second property that varies in a second direction along a surface of the substrate. A property of the pattern feature is measured. Using the measured property of the pattern feature and at least one of the first and second properties, information is obtained for use in modeling the process. The lithographic process may be or include the projection of the beam of radiation onto the surface of the substrate. | 12-23-2010 |
| 20110010000 | Method for Selecting Sample Positions on a Substrate, Method for Providing a Representation of a Model of Properties of a Substrate, Method of Providing a Representation of the Variation of Properties of a Substrate Across the Substrate and Device Manufacturing Method - A method for selecting sample positions on a substrate from a set of all available sample positions is provided, in which a representation of a model, which may represent the variation of one or more properties across the substrate, is analyzed in order to identify the sample positions having the greatest effect on the model. | 01-13-2011 |
| 20110122496 | Substrate Used in a Method and Apparatus for Angular-Resolved Spectroscopic Lithography Characterization - A substrate includes an overlay target. The overlay target can include two superposed layers. Each of the two superposed layers includes two gratings with a different pitch from each other. | 05-26-2011 |
