The present disclosure relates a lithographic substrate marking tool. The tool includes a first electromagnetic radiation source disposed within a housing and configured to generate a first type of electromagnetic radiation. A radiation guide is configured to provide the first type of electromagnetic radiation to a photosensitive material over a substrate. A second electromagnetic radiation source is disposed within the housing and is configured to generate a second type of electromagnetic radiation that is provided to the photosensitive material.

A radiation system includes a beam splitting apparatus configured to split a main radiation beam into a plurality of branch radiation beams and a radiation alteration device arranged to receive an input radiation beam and output a modified radiation beam, wherein the radiation alteration device is configured to provide an output modified radiation beam which has an increased etendue, when compared to the received input radiation beam, wherein the radiation alteration device is arranged such that the input radiation beam which is received by the radiation alteration device is a main radiation beam and the radiation alteration device is configured to provide a modified main radiation beam to the beam splitting apparatus, or wherein the radiation alteration device is arranged such that the input radiation beam which is received by the radiation alteration device is a branch radiation beam output from the beam splitting apparatus.

A purge system includes a purge gas distribution manifold that includes at least one port through which light beam from an optical metrology or inspection head is transmitted. The purge gas distribution manifold includes a bottom surface having one or more apertures through which purge gas is expelled. The bottom surface is held in close proximity to the top surface of the substrate and the apertures may be distributed over the bottom surface of the purge gas distribution manifold so that purge gas is uniformly distributed over the entirety of the top surface of the substrate at all measurement positions of the substrate with respect to the optical metrology or inspection head.

In some embodiments, the present disclosure relates a lithographic substrate marking tool. The lithographic substrate marking tool has a first lithographic exposure tool arranged within a shared housing and configured to generate a first type of electromagnetic radiation during a plurality of exposures. A mobile reticle has a plurality of different reticle fields respectively configured to block a portion of the first type of electromagnetic radiation to expose a substrate identification mark within a photosensitive material overlying a semiconductor substrate. A transversal element is configured to move the mobile reticle so that separate ones of the plurality of reticle fields are exposed onto the photosensitive material during separate ones of the plurality of exposures. The mobile reticle therefore allows for different strings of substrate identification marks to be formed within the photoresistive material using a same reticle, thereby economically providing the benefits of lithographic substrate marking.

The present disclosure relates a method of forming substrate identification marks. In some embodiments, the method may be performed by forming a photosensitive material over a substrate. A first type of electromagnetic radiation is selectively provided to the photosensitive material to expose a plurality of substrate identification marks within the photosensitive material, and a second type of electromagnetic radiation is selectively provided to the photosensitive material to expose one or more alignment marks within the photosensitive material. Exposed portions of the photosensitive material are removed to form a patterned photosensitive material. The substrate is etched according to the patterned photosensitive material to form recesses within the substrate that are defined by the plurality of substrate identification marks and the one or more alignment marks.

A microlithography illumination system includes a first light source configured to generate pulses of light, a second light source configured to generate further pulses of light offset temporally relative to the pulses of light generated by the first light source, an array of optical elements digitally switchable between first and second switching positions, and a control device to drive the optical elements so that during use the switching position of the optical elements is unchanged while any of the first and second light sources generates a light pulse. In the first switching position of the optical elements, the array couples light pulses generated by the first light source into a common beam path of the illumination system. In the second switching position of the optical elements, the array couples light pulses generated by the second light source into a common beam path of the illumination system.

The present application discloses an ultraviolet (UV) mask device and a method for using the UV mask device. The UV mask device includes: a platform, configured for carrying a substrate thereon; a mask substrate, configured above the platform for fixing a mask corresponding to the substrate on the platform; and a light source array, configured above the mask substrate by a first distance and including a plurality of UV light-emitting diodes (UV LEDs) emitting light having a first single central wavelength.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a multiple charged particle beam lithography apparatus includes dose operation processing circuitry configured to, in a case that a pattern is written into a pattern writing region sufficiently larger than the setting region in a target object by using the multiple charged particle beams following the pattern writing sequence, operate an incident dose of a beam to each position intended inside the pattern writing region by continuously using repeatedly data of dose modulation value groups defined for a plurality of pixel regions of a same block among a plurality of blocks obtained by dividing a dose modulation map for each preset number of pixel regions without switching to data of dose modulation value groups of other blocks.

A light source arrangement for a photolithography exposure system comprises at least three light sources with different wavelengths, and a beam splitting unit comprising at least three inputs, one output, and at least two reflecting faces. An input is assigned to each light source and each reflecting face. The reflecting face reflects light that is emitted from the light source assigned to a corresponding input thereof into the output. The three light sources are arranged on three different sides around the beam splitting unit.

Apparatus and methods are disclosed. An example lithography apparatus includes an ultraviolet (UV) source to expose a photoresist layer to UV light; and an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) source coupled to the UV source, the EUV source to expose the photoresist layer to EUV light to via a photomask, a combination of the UV light and the EUV light provide a pattern on the photoresist layer when a developer solution is applied to the photoresist layer.