A lithographic apparatus including: a radiation system; a frame; a substrate table for holding a substrate; and a scanning mechanism. The radiation system is operable to produce a radiation beam. The substrate table is moveably mounted to the frame and arranged such that a target portion of the substrate is arranged to receive the radiation beam. The scanning mechanism is operable to move the substrate table relative to the frame so that different portions of the substrate may receive the radiation beam. A mechanism is operable to determine a quantity indicative of a velocity of the radiation system relative to the frame. An adjustment mechanism is operable to control a power or irradiance of the radiation beam so as to reduce a variation in a dose of radiation received by the substrate as a result of relative motion of the radiation system and the frame.

An alignment system includes: a light emitting device located on one side of an object to be aligned for emitting light towards the object to be aligned; a light receiving device located on the other side of the object to be aligned and at a standard position corresponding to an alignment mark disposed on the object to be aligned, the light receiving device being provided with a plurality of light sensors for sensing light emitting from the light emitting device on an end surface facing the object to be aligned; a processor configured to receive sensing signals transmitted from each of the light sensors and determine whether the object to be aligned is aligned accurately according to whether each of the light sensors sense the light emitted from the light emitting device. This alignment system shortens the processing time and enhances the processing efficiency.

To irradiate a target with a beam of energetic electrically charged particles, the beam is formed and imaged onto a target, where it generates a pattern image composed of pixels. The pattern image is moved along a path on the target over a region to be exposed, and this movement defines a number of stripes covering said region in sequential exposures and having respective widths. The number of stripes is written in at least two sweeps which each have a respective general direction, but the general direction is different for different sweeps, e.g. perpendicular to each other. Each stripe belongs to exactly one sweep and runs substantially parallel to the other stripes of the same sweep, namely, along the respective general direction. For each sweep the widths, as measured across said main direction, of the stripes of one sweep combine into a cover of the total width of the region.

The invention relates to a lithographic apparatus comprising: an actuation system for positioning an object; a control unit (CU) for controlling the actuation system; and a cooling system for cooling the actuation system, wherein the actuation system comprises a coil assembly (CA) including one or more coils (CO) as force generating members, wherein the cooling system comprises cooling element (CE) interacting with the coil assembly for cooling the coil assembly, and wherein the control unit is configured to control a temperature of the one or more coils to keep a magnitude of cyclic stress below a predetermined value.

A maskless exposure device includes an exposure head including a digital micro-mirror device and an exposure source, the digital micro-mirror device being configured to reflect a source beam outputted from the exposure source to a substrate and a system controller configured to control the digital micro-mirror device by using a graphic data system file. The graphic data system file includes data regarding patterns to be formed on the substrate. A pattern extending in a direction parallel to a scan direction of the exposure head includes a first pattern portion having a first width that is greater than a target width and a second pattern portion alternately disposed with the first pattern portion and having a second width that is less than the target width.

A method includes projecting an illumination beam of radiation onto a metrology target on a substrate, detecting radiation reflected from the metrology target on the substrate, and determining a characteristic of a feature on the substrate based on the detected radiation, wherein a polarization state of the detected radiation is controllably selected to optimize a quality of the detected radiation.

The exposing apparatus according to the present invention for exposing a substrate so as to transfer a pattern formed on an original to the substrate by using exposure light from a light source, includes a substrate stage on which the substrate is mounted, a driving unit configured to drive the substrate stage with a plurality of actuators each configured to apply a thrust to the substrate stage in respective orientations different from each other, and a controller configured to control the driving unit to cause the substrate stage to move in the scanning direction when exposing each of a plurality of shot regions on the substrate, and to cause each of the plurality of actuators to apply the thrust to the substrate stage in at least a part of time duration of each movement in the scanning direction.

A maskless exposure device including a light source configured to emit an exposure beam, a light modulation element configured to modulate the exposure beam according to an exposure pattern, a projection optical system configured to transfer a modulated exposure beam to a substrate as a beam spot array, a beam measurement part configured to measure a beam data of the beam spot array, and a compensating mask generator configured to generate a compensating mask by utilizing a measured data of the exposure beam for compensating cumulative illumination, wherein the compensating mask generator is configured to turn off left and right beams of a first selected spot beam selected by the beam data, and then to turn off a second selected spot beam.

An immersion lithography apparatus has a controller configured to control a substrate table to move along an exposure route including in order: an entry motion in which the substrate moves from an off-substrate position at which the immersion space does not overlap the substrate to an on-substrate position at which the immersion space at least partially overlaps the substrate, a transfer motion in which the substrate table changes speed and/or direction and moves for at least a transfer time after the substrate moves to the on-substrate position, and an expose motion in which the substrate is scanned and the patterned beam is projected onto the substrate, wherein throughout the transfer motion at least a part of the immersion space overlaps the substrate and wherein the patterned beam is not projected onto the substrate during the entry motion and the transfer motion.

A metrology system may include a characterization tool configured to generate metrology data for a sample based on the interaction of an illumination beam with the sample, and may also include one or more adjustable measurement parameters to control the generation of metrology data. The metrology system may include one or more processors that may receive design data associated with a plurality of regions of interest for measurement, select individualized measurement parameters of the characterization tool for the plurality of regions of interest, and direct the characterization tool to characterize the plurality of regions of interest based on the individualized measurement parameters.