A measurement device is equipped with a surface plate, a slider which holds a substrate and which is movable relative to the surface plate, a drive system that moves the slider, a first position measurement system which measures the slider's first position information relative to the surface plate, a measurement unit having a mark detection system that detects a mark on a substrate, a second position measurement system which measures a relative second position information between the mark detection system and substrate, and a controller which obtains the first position information from the first position measurement system and second position information from the second position measurement system while controlling the slider's movement by the drive system, and obtains position information of a plurality of marks based on detection signals of the mark detection system having detected marks on the substrate, the first position information, and the second position information.

In a dark-field metrology method using a small target, a characteristic of an image of the target, obtained using a single diffraction order, is determined by fitting a combination fit function to the measured image. The combination fit function includes terms selected to represent aspects of the physical sensor and the target. Some coefficients of the combination fit function are determined based on parameters of the measurement process and/or target. In an embodiment the combination fit function includes jinc functions representing the point spread function of a pupil stop in the imaging system.

An apparatus and method for a dispenser with nozzles configured to eject lines of droplets of formable material onto a substrate in response to ejection signals. The fluid dispenser dispenses a first line of ejected droplets of formable material onto a first location on the substrate. A line camera generates camera signals that are representative of the first line of ejected droplets. The camera signals are analyzed to identify malfunctioning nozzles. The fluid dispenser dispenses a second line of ejected droplets of formable material onto a second location on the substrate that compensates for the one or more malfunctioning nozzles.

A technique of measuring a parameter of a patterning process is disclosed. In one arrangement, a target, formed by the patterning process, is illuminated. A sub-order diffraction component of radiation scattered from the target is detected and used to determine the parameter of the patterning process.

A measurement device is equipped with a surface plate, a slider which holds a substrate and which is movable relative to the surface plate, a drive system that moves the slider, a first position measurement system which measures the slider's first position information relative to the surface plate, a measurement unit having a mark detection system that detects a mark on a substrate, a second position measurement system which measures a relative second position information between the mark detection system and substrate, and a controller which obtains the first position information from the first position measurement system and second position information from the second position measurement system while controlling the slider's movement by the drive system, and obtains position information of a plurality of marks based on detection signals of the mark detection system having detected marks on the substrate, the first position information, and the second position information.

Embodiments of bonded semiconductor structures and fabrication methods thereof are disclosed. In an example, a semiconductor device includes a first semiconductor structure, a second semiconductor structure, and a bonding interface between the first semiconductor structure and the second semiconductor structure. The first semiconductor structure includes a substrate, a first device layer disposed on the substrate, and a first bonding layer disposed above the first device layer and including a first bonding contact and a first bonding alignment mark. The second semiconductor structure includes a second device layer, and a second bonding layer disposed below the second device layer and including a second bonding contact and a second bonding alignment mark. The first bonding alignment mark is aligned with the second bonding alignment mark at the bonding interface, such that the first bonding contact is aligned with the second bonding contact at the bonding interface.

Embodiments of bonded semiconductor structures and fabrication methods thereof are disclosed. In an example, a method for forming a semiconductor device is disclosed. A first device layer is formed on a first substrate. A first bonding layer including a first bonding contact and a first bonding alignment mark is formed above the first device layer. A second device layer is formed on a second substrate. A second bonding layer including a second bonding contact and a second bonding alignment mark is formed above the second device layer. The first bonding alignment mark is aligned with the second bonding alignment mark, such that the first bonding contact is aligned with the second bonding contact. The first substrate and the second substrate are bonded in a face-to-face manner, so that the first bonding contact is in contact with the second bonding contact at a bonding interface, and the first bonding alignment mark is in contact with the second bonding alignment mark at the bonding interface.

In a lithographic process, product units such as semiconductor wafers are subjected to lithographic patterning operations and chemical and physical processing operations. Alignment data or other measurements are made at stages during the performance of the process to obtain object data representing positional deviation or other parameters measured at points spatially distributed across each unit. This object data is used to obtain diagnostic information by performing a multivariate analysis to decompose a set of vectors representing the units in the multidimensional space into one or more component vectors. Diagnostic information about the industrial process is extracted using the component vectors. The performance of the industrial process for subsequent product units can be controlled based on the extracted diagnostic information.

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.

In a lithographic process, product units such as semiconductor wafers are subjected to lithographic patterning operations and chemical and physical processing operations. Alignment data or other measurements are made at stages during the performance of the process to obtain object data representing positional deviation or other parameters measured at points spatially distributed across each unit. This object data is used to obtain diagnostic information by performing a multivariate analysis to decompose a set of vectors representing the units in the multidimensional space into one or more component vectors. Diagnostic information about the industrial process is extracted using the component vectors. The performance of the industrial process for subsequent product units can be controlled based on the extracted diagnostic information.