| Patent application number | Description | Published |
|---|
| 20080285018 | DEVICE AND METHOD FOR RANGE-RESOLVED DETERMINATION OF SCATTERED LIGHT, AND AN ILLUMINATION MASK - An illumination mask ( | 11-20-2008 |
| 20100104128 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION OF A STRUCTURE ON A CARRIER RELATIVE TO A REFERENCE POINT OF THE CARRIER - A method is provided for determining the position of a structure on a carrier, relative to a reference point of the carrier, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing an image including a reference structure; b) recording an image of the structure on the carrier by means of a recording device, with a known recording position relative to the reference points; c) superimposing the two images to form one superimposed image; d) determining the image distance of the two structures in the superimposed image; e) shifting the two structures in the superimposed image relative to one another, depending on the determined image distance; f) checking whether the determined image distance is below a predetermined maximum value; wherein, if the image distance is below the maximum value, the method is continued in step g), and, if the image distance is not below the maximum value, steps d)-f) are repeated, taking into account the determined image distance/distances: g) determining the position of the structure relative to the reference point, on the basis of the recording position in step b) and of the image distance/image distances determined in step(s) d). | 04-29-2010 |
| 20100153059 | APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR MEASURING THE POSITIONS OF MARKS ON A MASK - An apparatus for measuring the positions of marks on a mask is provided, said apparatus comprising a mask holder for holding the mask, a recording unit for recording the marks of the mask held by the mask holder, an actuating module for moving the mask holder and the recording unit relative to each other, and an evaluating module, which numerically calculates the gravity-induced sagging of the mask in the mask holder and determines the positions of the marks on the mask, based on the calculated sagging, the recordings made by the recording unit and the relative movement between the mask holder and the recording unit, wherein, prior to calculating said sagging, the present position of the mask in the mask holder is determined and is taken into consideration in said numerical calculation, and/or the geometrical dimensions of the mask are taken into consideration in said numerical calculation of sagging. | 06-17-2010 |
| 20100208254 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING SCATTERED LIGHT ON AN OPTICAL SYSTEM - A method of measuring scattered light on an optical system includes: providing a first measuring field and a second measuring field, both measuring fields respectively being either of a first light manipulation type or a second light manipulation type, which first light manipulation type is configured to cause incoming light to enter the optical system and which second light manipulation type is configured to prevent incoming light from entering the optical system, and both measuring fields respectively having a second light manipulation type reference structure and a respective measuring structure, which measuring structures are of the second light manipulation type in the case where the measuring fields are of the first light manipulation type, and are first light manipulation type regions of the measuring fields in the case where the measuring fields are of the second light manipulation type, wherein the measuring structures of the respective measuring fields are offset in different directions in relation to the respective reference structure, imaging the first measuring field with the optical system into an image plane and measuring a first light intensity produced herewith at a location in the region of the image of the reference structure of the first measuring field, and imaging the second measuring field with the optical system into the image plane and measuring a second light intensity produced herewith at a location in the region of the image of the reference structure of the second measuring field. | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100208935 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING THE RELATIVE OVERLAY SHIFT OF STACKED LAYERS - A method is provided for determining the relative overlay shift of stacked layers, said method comprising the steps of: a) providing a reference image including a reference pattern that comprises first and second pattern elements; b) providing a measurement image of a measurement pattern, which comprises a first pattern element formed by a first one of the layers and a second pattern element formed by a second one of the layers; c) weighting the reference or measurement image such that a weighted first image is generated, in which the first pattern element is emphasized relative to the second pattern element; d) determining the relative shift of the first pattern element on the basis of the weighted first image and of the measurement or reference image not weighted in step c); e) weighting the reference or measurement image such that a weighted second image is generated, in which the second pattern element is emphasized relative to the first pattern element; f) determining the relative shift of the second pattern element on the basis of the weighted second image and of the measurement or reference image not weighted in step e); g) determining the relative overlay shift on the basis of the relative shifts determined in steps d) and f). | 08-19-2010 |
| 20100241384 | METHOD FOR CALIBRATING A SPECIMEN STAGE OF A METROLOGY SYSTEM AND METROLOGY SYSTEM COMPRISING A SPECIMEN STAGE - A method for calibrating a specimen stage of a metrology system is provided, in which a specimen that has multiple marks is positioned successively in different calibration positions, each mark is positioned in the photography range of an optical system by means of the specimen stage in each calibration position of the specimen, and the mark position is measured using the optical system. A model is set up that describes positioning errors of the specimen stage using a system of functions having calibration parameters to be determined. The model takes into consideration at least one systematic measurement error that occurs during the measurement of the mark positions. The values of the calibration parameters are determined based on the model with consideration of the measured mark positions. | 09-23-2010 |
| 20100254611 | METHOD AND DEVICE FOR DETERMINING THE POSITION OF AN EDGE OF A MARKER STRUCTURE WITH SUBPIXEL ACCURACY IN AN IMAGE, HAVING A PLURALITY OF PIXELS, OF THE MARKER STRUCTURE - The position of an edge of a marker structure in an image of the marker structure is determined with subpixel accuracy. A discrete intensity profile of the edge, having profile pixels, is derived from the image pixels, and a continuous profile function of the edge is determined based on the profile pixels. Profile pixels whose intensity values are near an intensity threshold value are selected as evaluation pixels. Based on the evaluation pixels, a curve of continuous intensity is calculated. A position coordinate at which the intensity value of the continuous intensity curve matches the threshold value is selected as a first position coordinate, and the distance is determined between the first position coordinate and the position coordinate of the evaluation pixel that, from among the evaluation pixels previously selected, has the closest intensity value to the threshold value. The determined distance is compared to a predetermined threshold, and if the distance is greater than the threshold, a shift is effected, and the process iteratively performs the steps of selects the adjacent profile pixels, calculates the curve of continuous intensity, and so forth. If the distance is not greater than the threshold, the position of the edge in the captured image is determined with subpixel accuracy from all the distances determined in step g). | 10-07-2010 |
| 20110134308 | AUTOFOCUS DEVICE AND AUTOFOCUSING METHOD FOR AN IMAGING DEVICE - An autofocus device for an imaging device is provided, which has an imaging optic having a first focal plane and an object table for moving an object to be imaged relative to the first focal plane, wherein said autofocus device comprises a) an image recording module having a second focal plane, the location thereof relative to the first focal plane being known, b) a lighting module (BM) for imaging a focusing image along a lighting beam path in a focusing image plane such that, if the object is positioned in a target position at a predetermined distance to the second focal plane, the lighting beam path is folded because of reflection on the object and the focusing image, which lies in the focusing image plane, intersects the second focal plane or lies therein, and c) a control module, which activates the object table to focus the imaging device so that the object is positioned in the target position, from a signal of the image recording module, which the image recording module generates on the basis of the recording thereof of the focusing image when the object is positioned in the target position, derives the deviation of the object position from the target position, and, based on the derived deviation, the predetermined distance, and the relative location of the first and second focal planes, activates the object table so that the object is positioned in the first focal plane. | 06-09-2011 |
