The present disclosure provides a method for an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography system that includes a radiation source having a laser device configured with a mechanism to generate an EUV radiation. The method includes collecting a laser beam profile of a laser beam from the laser device in a 3-dimensional (3D) mode; collecting an EUV energy distribution of the EUV radiation generated by the laser beam in the 3D mode; performing an analysis to the laser beam profile and the EUV energy distribution, resulting in an analysis data; and adjusting the radiation source according to the analysis data to enhance the EUV radiation.

The present invention provides an exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate via an original, including an illumination optical system configured to illuminate the original, and a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of the original onto the substrate, wherein the illumination optical system illuminates the original by illumination light which includes a first portion that enters an incident pupil of the projection optical system and a second portion which enters a region outside the incident pupil, and the first portion and the second portion are separated from each other on an incident pupil plane of the projection optical system.

In pattern formation method, a photomask is loaded into a lithography apparatus, an exposure light is applied to a photo resist layer formed over a substrate through or via the photomask, and the photo resist layer is developed. The photomask includes a plurality of octagonal shape patterns periodically arranged in a first direction and a second direction crossing the first direction. A width Lx of horizontal sides extending in the first direction of each of the plurality octagonal shape patterns is different from a width Ly of vertical sides extending in the second direction of each of the plurality octagonal shape patterns.

There is provided a reflective image-forming optical system which is applicable to an exposure apparatus using, for example, EUV light and which is capable of increasing numerical aperture while enabling optical path separation of light fluxes. In a reflective imaging optical system (6) forming an image of a first plane (4) onto a second plane (7), the numerical aperture on a side of the second plane with respect to a first direction (X direction) on the second plane is greater than 1.1 times a numerical aperture on the side of the second plane with respect to a second direction (Y direction) crossing the first direction on the second plane. The reflecting imaging optical system has an aperture stop (AS) defining the numerical aperture on the side of the second plane, and the aperture stop has an elliptic-shaped opening of which size in a major axis direction (X direction) is greater than 1.1 times that in a minor axis direction (Y direction).

A method for determining a component of optical characteristic of a patterning process. The method includes obtaining (i) a plurality of desired features, (ii) a plurality of simulated features based on the plurality of desired features and an optical characteristic of a patterning apparatus, and (iii) a performance metric (e.g., EPE) related to a desired feature of the plurality of desired features and an associated simulated feature of the plurality of simulated features; determining a set of optical sensitivities of the patterning process by computing a change in value of the performance metric based on a change in value of the optical characteristic; and identifying, based on the set of optical sensitivities, a set of components (e.g., principal components) of the optical characteristic that include dominant contributors in changing the value of the performance metric.

A projection exposure apparatus (10) includes a mask mark illumination light source (21) capable of irradiating a mask mark (MM) with exposure light itself or a first alignment light (L1) having substantially the same wavelength as the exposure light, and an alignment unit (30) having a work mark illumination light source (31) capable of irradiating a work mark (WM) with second alignment light (L2) having a wavelength different from the wavelength of the exposure light, an imaging device (32), and an imaging optical system (40). The imaging optical system (40) includes a first dichroic prism (41) for synthesizing the first alignment light (L1) and the light from the work mark (WM) and emitting the synthesized light toward the imaging device (32), and an optical path length changing optical system (42) for splitting and merging the first alignment light (L1), in which the optical positional relationships of the work mark (WM) and the image (MMI) of the mask mark (MM) with respect to the imaging device (32) are equivalent. Accordingly, it is possible to provide a projection exposure apparatus and a projection exposure method that allow high-precision alignment even in a small-sized exposure area.

A method of operating an optical component having a mirror element, a substrate for carrying the mirror element, an actuator device for tilting the mirror element about one or two tilt axes, having a plurality of active actuator electrodes and one or more passive actuator electrodes, and a sensor device having a sensor electrode structure for detecting a tilt angle of the mirror element based on changes in capacitance, having a plurality of active sensor electrodes and a plurality of passive sensor electrodes, wherein the method comprises: generating a first voltage between a first portion of the active actuator electrodes and the passive actuator electrodes; and generating a second voltage between a second portion of the active actuator electrodes and the passive actuator electrodes. A respective potential different from a reference potential is applied to the one or more passive actuator electrodes by a voltage source with the reference potential.

A method to determine a patterning process parameter, the method comprising: for a target, calculating a first value for an intermediate parameter from data obtained by illuminating the target with radiation comprising a central wavelength; for the target, calculating a second value for the intermediate parameter from data obtained by illuminating the target with radiation comprising two different central wavelengths; and calculating a combined measurement for the patterning process parameter based on the first and second values for the intermediate parameter.

The invention provides a light generating method and system, the method including: generating first light, the first light being capable of forming a first area, a second area, and a third area, and intensity of the first light in the first area being higher than that in the second area and the third area, respectively; generating second light, the second light being capable of simultaneously irradiating the first area and the second area; generating third light, the third light being capable of simultaneously irradiating the first area and the third area; and controlling intensity of the second light and the third light, respectively. The light generating method and system provided by the invention can not only generate light having a super-resolution that may approach infinitesimal in theory but also employ light output by a laser as the only original light source, featuring extremely low costs and freedom from the diffraction limit of the light source, showing a great prospect of applications in the field of lithography.

A method for determining a component of optical characteristic of a patterning process. The method includes obtaining (i) a plurality of desired features, (ii) a plurality of simulated features based on the plurality of desired features and an optical characteristic of a patterning apparatus, and (iii) a performance metric (e.g., EPE) related to a desired feature of the plurality of desired features and an associated simulated feature of the plurality of simulated features; determining a set of optical sensitivities of the patterning process by computing a change in value of the performance metric based on a change in value of the optical characteristic; and identifying, based on the set of optical sensitivities, a set of components (e.g., principal components) of the optical characteristic that include dominant contributors in changing the value of the performance metric.