A method and device for enhancing alignment performance of a lithographic device can provide an optimal alignment light source type to perform alignment according to product features. Overlay performance of the product can be improved, wafer reject can be reduced, and production efficiency can be enhanced.

The present invention provides a processing system that includes a first apparatus and a second apparatus, and processes a substrate, wherein the first apparatus includes a first measurement unit configured to detect a first structure and a second structure different from the first structure provided on the substrate, and measure a relative position between the first structure and the second structure, and the second apparatus includes an obtainment unit configured to obtain the relative position measured by the first measurement unit, a second measurement unit configured to detect the second structure and measure a position of the second structure, and a control unit configured to obtain a position of the first structure based on the relative position obtained by the obtainment unit and the position of the second structure measured by the second measurement unit.

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 for monitoring a lithographic process, and associated lithographic apparatus. The method includes obtaining height variation data relating to a substrate supported by a substrate support and fitting a regression through the height variation data, the regression approximating the shape of the substrate; residual data between the height variation data and the regression is determined; and variation of the residual data is monitored over time. The residual data may be deconvolved based on known features of the substrate support.

A patterning device alignment system including a multipath sensory array including a first collimating light path and one or more other light paths, a first detector positioned at a first end of the first collimating light path, and a second detector positioned at a first end of the one or more other light paths, the first detector configured to receive a reflected illumination beam from an illuminated patterning device and calculate a tilt parameter of the patterning device, and the second detector configured to receive a second reflected illumination beam from a beam splitter and calculate an X-Y planar location position and a rotation position of the patterning device.

An alignment method includes directing an illumination beam with a varying wavelength or frequency towards an alignment target, collecting diffraction beams from the alignment target and directing towards an interferometer. The alignment method also includes producing, by the interferometer, two diffraction sub-beams from the diffraction beams, wherein the diffraction sub-beams are orthogonally polarized, rotated 180 degrees with respect to each other around an alignment axis, and spatially overlapped. The alignment method further includes measuring interference intensity of the diffraction beams based on a temporal phase shift, wherein the temporal phase shift is a function of the varying wavelength or frequency of the illumination beam and a fixed optical path difference between the diffraction beams. The alignment method also includes determining a position of the alignment target from the measured interference intensity.

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 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.

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.

An apparatus for measuring a height of a substrate for processing in a lithographic apparatus is disclosed. The apparatus comprises a first sensor for sensing a height of the substrate over a first area. The apparatus also comprises a second sensor for sensing a height of the substrate over a second area. The apparatus further comprises a processor adapted to normalize first data corresponding to a signal from the first sensor with a second sensor footprint to produce a first normalized height data, and to normalize second data corresponding to a signal from the second sensor with a first sensor footprint to produce a second normalized height data. The processor is adapted to determine a correction to a measured height of the substrate based on a difference between the first and second normalized height data.