An alignment mark includes a first alignment marker located on a first surface of a substrate and a second alignment marker located on a second surface of the substrate. The second alignment marker is arranged to be matched with the first alignment marker, and capable of representing a process variation between the second alignment marker and the first alignment marker.

An apparatus including a focused light beam receptor apparatus configured to be positioned proximate a first end of a vehicle, a focused light beam generator; and wherein the focused light beam receptor apparatus includes a focused light beam receiving surface for receiving a focused light beam from the focused light beam generator to provide alignment of the focused light beam receptor relative to a centerline of the vehicle. A method of aligning a focused light beam receptor, focused light beam generator and a movable alignment stand relative to a centerline of a vehicle is also provided.

A compact sensor apparatus having an illumination beam, a beam shaping system, a polarization modulation system, a beam projection system, and a signal detection system. The beam shaping system is configured to shape an illumination beam generated from the illumination system and generate a flat top beam spot of the illumination beam over a wavelength range from 400 nm to 2000 nm. The polarization modulation system is configured to provide tenability of linear polarization state of the illumination beam. The beam projection system is configured to project the flat top beam spot toward a target, such as an alignment mark on a substrate. The signal detection system is configured to collect a signal beam comprising diffraction order sub-beams generated from the target, and measure a characteristic (e.g., overlay) of the target based on the signal beam.

A method of performing a lithography process includes providing a test pattern. The test pattern includes a first set of lines arranged at a first pitch, a second set of lines arranged at the first pitch, and further includes at least one reference line between the first set of lines and the second set of lines. The test pattern is exposed with a radiation source providing an asymmetric, monopole illumination profile to form a test pattern structure on a substrate. The test pattern structure is then measured and a measured distance correlated to an offset of a lithography parameter. A lithography process is adjusted based on the offset of the lithography parameter.

Apparatus and methods for determining a focus error for a lithographic apparatus and/or a difference between first and second metrology data. The first and/or second metrology data includes a plurality of values of a parameter relating to a substrate, the substrate including a plurality of fields including device topology. The apparatus may include a processor configured to execute computer program code to cause the processor to: determine an intra-field component of the parameter; remove the determined intra-field component from the first metrology data to obtain an inter-field component of the first metrology data; and determine the difference between the first metrology data and second metrology data based on the inter-field component and the second metrology data.

A control apparatus for performing position control of a moving object is provided. The apparatus includes a feedforward controller configured to perform feedforward control by giving a feedforward manipulated variable to the moving object. In a case that a duration of the feedforward control exceeds a predetermined time, the feedforward controller continues the feedforward control using a feedforward manipulated variable obtained based on a feedforward manipulated variable used in a predetermined section including an end of the predetermined time.

A formable material in contact with a template is irradiated to form a reference film using a predefined registration pattern associated with a spatial light modulator (SLM). The reference film is inspected to generate positional information of elements of the SLM relative to an imprint field edge. Positional offset of the elements of the SLM with respect to a holder of the template based on the positional information is determined. Control parameters for the SLM are determined based on the positional offset.

The invention relates to a method for determining a registration error of a structure on a mask for semiconductor lithography, comprising the following method steps: generating an image of at least one region of the mask, determining at least one measuring contour in the image, and matching the forms of a design contour and a measuring contour to one another while at the same time matching the registration of the two contours.

A mark detecting apparatus includes an imaging unit configured to generate an alignment mark image by imaging of an alignment mark on an object, a detecting unit configured to detect the alignment mark in the alignment mark image, and an adjusting unit configured to adjust a parameter relating to the imaging, based on a learning model generated by learning using the alignment mark image in which the alignment mark could not be detected and a first parameter as the parameter for the imaging of the alignment mark image in which the alignment mark could be detected. The adjusting unit acquires a second parameter as a result of inference processing based on the learning model. The imaging unit performs the imaging in a state where the parameter is adjusted to the second parameter.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an alignment mark evaluation method and an alignment mark evaluation system. The alignment mark evaluation method includes: setting a process step code of a wafer with an alignment mark to be evaluated as an evaluation code; obtaining a current process step code of the wafer; if it is detected that the current process step code is the evaluation code, switching a step to be executed to an alignment mark evaluation step; and executing the alignment mark evaluation step to evaluate the alignment mark to be evaluated.