A method, system and program for determining a position of a feature referenced to a substrate. The method includes measuring a position of the feature, receiving an intended placement of the feature and determining an estimate of a placement error based on knowledge of a relative position of a first reference feature referenced to a first layer on a substrate with respect to a second reference feature referenced to a second layer on a substrate. The updated position may be used to position the layer of the substrate having the feature, or another layer of the substrate, or another layer of another substrate.

A mirror, in particular for a microlithographic projection exposure apparatus or an inspection system, having a mirror substrate (205), a reflection layer (220), which is configured to have a reflectivity of at least 50% for electromagnetic radiation of a predefined operating wavelength that is incident on the optically effective surface (200a) of the mirror at an angle of incidence of at least 65 relative to the respective surface normal, and a barrier layer system (210), which is arranged between the reflection layer and the mirror substrate and has a sequence of alternating layer plies composed of a first material and at least one second material. The barrier layer system reduces penetration of hydrogen atoms that would otherwise penetrate the mirror substrate by at least a factor of 10.

A microlithographic projection exposure apparatus includes a projection lens that is configured for immersion operation. For this purpose an immersion liquid is introduced into an immersion space that is located between a last lens of the projection lens on the image side and a photosensitive layer to be exposed. To reduce fluctuations of refractive index resulting from temperature gradients occurring within the immersion liquid, the projection exposure apparatus includes heat transfer elements that heat or cool partial volumes of the immersion liquid so as to achieve an at least substantially homogenous or at least substantially rotationally symmetric temperature distribution within the immersion liquid.

A photolithography tool and a method for compensating for surface deformation in a carrier of the photolithography tool are disclosed. In the photolithography tool, carrier surface deformation compensation elements are provided at the bottom of the carrier, which are capable of compensating for the surface deformation in the carrier. In the method, the surface deformation is detected by carrier surface deformation detection modules, and an automated closed-loop controller controls compensating forces exerted by the carrier surface deformation compensation elements based on the detected deformation. This allows more accurate compensation for the carrier surface deformation.

A conveyance hand for holding a conveyed object can include a base, a pad configured to suction the conveyed object, and a first support member fixed to the base and configured to support the pad. First support member can include three or more support members each configured to support the pad.

The present disclosure describes a method for improving post-photolithography critical dimension (CD) uniformity for features printed on a photoresist. A layer can be formed on one or more printed features and subsequently etched to improve overall CD uniformity across the features. For example the method includes a material layer disposed over a substrate and a photoresist over the material layer. The photoresist is patterned to form a first feature with a first critical dimension (CD) and a second feature with a second CD that is larger than the first CD. Further, a layer is formed with one or more deposition/etch cycles in the second feature to form a modified second CD that is nominally equal to the first CD.

A substrate support for supporting a substrate. The substrate support comprises a main body, a clamping device and a dither device. The main body comprises a support surface for supporting the substrate. The clamping device is arranged to provide the clamping force to clamp the substrate on the support surface. The dither device is configured to dither the clamping force. The dither device may be configured to dither the clamping force while the substrate W is being loaded onto the support surface.

A mask container for storing a mask for photolithography, includes a cover and a base having a plurality of tapered corners. The tapered corners taper outward and downward from a top major surface of the base. The cover having the tapered corners extends downward that covers the tapered corners of the base when the cover is attached to the base. The tapered corners of the cover are tapered at about the same angle as the tapered corners of the base so that a surface of the tapered corners of the cover is substantially parallel to a corresponding surface of the tapered corner of the base when the cover is attached to the base. A recess is located in the tapered corners of the cover. A biasing member and a ball-shaped member are located in the tapered corners of the base to mate with the recess when the cover is attached to the base.

An initialization method including estimating a characteristic of a property of an object based on a plurality of measurements by the sensor of the property using a respective plurality of different measurement parameters, different ones of the measurements using different measurement parameters, the characteristic including a combination of respective outcomes of respective ones of the measurements weighted by a respective weighting coefficient; performing, for each of a plurality of models of the object, each model configured to enable respective simulation of the performing of the measurements, a respective simulation, the respective simulation including simulating the measurements under control of a respective plurality of different simulation parameters to obtain a respective plurality of simulated characteristics of the property, the different simulation parameters being indicative of the different measurement parameters; determining, for each of the models, a respective bias representative of a respective difference between a respective theoretical characteristic of the property in accordance with the respective model and a respective further combination of the simulated characteristics of the property in the respective model, the respective further combination of the simulated characteristics including the weight coefficients, each particular one of the weight coefficients associated with a particular one of the different simulation parameters; using a cost function configured to optimize a correspondence between the simulated characteristic of the property and the theoretical characteristic of the property, the cost function being a function of the respective biases of the models; and optimizing the cost function to derive the weight coefficients from the cost function; and using the weight coefficients and the associated simulation parameters in a controller associated with the sensor.

A substrate support for supporting a substrate. The substrate support includes a main body, a clamping device and a dither device. The main body includes a support surface for supporting the substrate. The clamping device is arranged to provide the clamping force to clamp the substrate on the support surface. The dither device is configured to dither the clamping force. The dither device may be configured to dither the clamping force while the substrate is being loaded onto the support surface.