A method for determining one or more optimized values of an operational parameter of a sensor system configured for measuring a property of a substrate. The method includes: determining a quality parameter for a plurality of substrates; determining measurement parameters for the plurality of substrates obtained using the sensor system for a plurality of values of the operational parameter; comparing a substrate to substrate variation of the quality parameter and a substrate to substrate variation of a mapping of the measurement parameters; and determining the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter based on the comparing.

An illumination optical unit for EUV projection lithography serves for obliquely illuminating an illumination field, in which an object field of a downstream imaging catoptric optical unit and a reflective object to be imaged can be arranged. A pupil generating device of the illumination optical unit is embodied so that an illumination pupil results, which brings about a dependency of an imaging telecentricity against a structure variable of the object to be imaged. This dependency is such that a dependency of the imaging telecentricity against the structure variable of the object to be imaged on account of interaction of the oblique illumination with structures of the object to be imaged is at least partly compensated for. An optical system for EUV projection lithography also has an imaging catoptric optical unit alongside an illumination optical unit and can additionally have a wavefront manipulation device.

A method of aligning a diffractive optical system, to be operated with an operating beam, comprises: aligning (558) the diffractive optical system using an alignment beam having a different wavelength range from the operating beam and using a diffractive optical element optimized (552) to diffract the alignment beam and the operating beam in the same (or a predetermined) direction. In an example, the alignment beam comprises infra-red (IR) radiation and the operating beam comprises soft X-ray (SXR) radiation. The diffractive optical element is optimized by providing it with a first periodic structure with a first pitch (pIR) and a second periodic structure with a second pitch (pSXR). After alignment, the vacuum system is pumped down (562) and in operation the SXR operating beam is generated (564) by a high harmonic generation (HHG) optical source pumped by the IR alignment beam’ optical source.

An immersion lithographic apparatus having a fluid handling structure, the fluid handling structure configured to confine immersion fluid to a region and including: a meniscus controlling feature having an extractor exit on a surface of the fluid handling structure; and a gas knife system outwards of the extractor exit and including passages each having an exit, the passages having a plurality of first passages having a plurality of corresponding first exits on the surface, and a plurality of second passages having a plurality of corresponding second exits outwards of the first exits on the surface, wherein the surface faces and is substantially parallel to a top surface of a substrate during exposure, and the first exits and the second exits are arranged at a greater distance from the substrate than the extractor exit.

A control device actuates actuator unit to set a position of an optical element of a lithography system. The control device includes an amplifier unit for providing a control signal for the actuator unit via a voltage signal and a PWM signal. The PWM signal has a duty factor and a clock frequency. The control device also includes a modulator unit designed to provide the PWM signal having the duty factor and a defined clock frequency from a plurality of defined clock frequencies. A defined clock frequency of the plurality of defined clock frequencies is an integer multiple of a basic clock frequency. The basic clock frequency is in the range of 10 kHz to 1 MHz.

An optical element serves for the beam guidance of imaging light in projection lithography. The optical element has a main body and at least one optical surface carried by the main body. At least one coupling unit is arranged on the main body. The coupling unit serves to attach a compensation weight element for compensating a figure deformation of the optical surface. The result is an optical element which can be provided at the use location with a relatively small figure deformation.

An apparatus and a method for detecting an optimal focal plane of a lithographic projection objective lens, the apparatus including: an illumination device, a beam splitting device, a lens array, a mask plate, a reflecting device, a photoelectric detector and a controller. The illumination device generates a collimated beam, which is transmitted through the beam splitting device, focused by the lens array to the mask plate for spatial-filtering, and delivered to the lithographic projection objective lens. The reflecting device reflects a focused beam passing through the lithographic projection objective lens to generate a reflected beam. The photoelectric detector detects an intensity of the reflected beam from the reflecting device after being spatial-filtered via the mask plate and generates a beam intensity signal. The controller controls a movement of a workpiece table and/or collects the beam intensity signal generated by the photoelectric detector.

Embodiments described herein provide a system, a software application, and methods of a lithography process that provide at least one of the ability to decrease the stabilization time and write an exposure pattern into a photoresist on a substrate compensating for the change in the total pitch over a stabilization time. One embodiment of the system includes a slab, a stage disposed over the slab, a pair of supports disposed on the slab, a processing apparatus, and a chiller system. The pair of supports support a pair of tracks and the stage is configured to move along the pair of tracks. The processing apparatus has an apparatus support coupled to the slab and a processing unit supported by the apparatus support. The processing unit has a plurality of image projection systems. The chiller system has at least one fluid channel disposed in each track of the pair of tracks.

A digital lithography system may adjust a wavelength of the light source to compensate for tilt errors in micromirrors while maintaining a perpendicular direction for the reflected light. Adjacent pixels may have a phase shift that is determined by an optical path difference between their respective light beams. This phase shift may be preselected to be any value by generating a corresponding wavelength at the light source based on the optical path difference. To generate a specific wavelength corresponding to the desired phase shift, the light source may produce multiple light components that have wavelengths that bracket the wavelength of the selected phase shift. The intensities of these components may then be controlled individually to produce an effect that approximates the selected phase shift on the substrate.

A lithographic apparatus comprising a projection system configured to project a patterned radiation beam to form an exposure area on a substrate held on a substrate table, the lithographic apparatus further comprising a cooling apparatus for cooling the substrate, wherein the cooling apparatus comprises a cooling element located above the substrate table and adjacent to the exposure area, the cooling element being configured to remove heat from the substrate.