A Lidar system includes an illumination system that includes a optical element and a light emitter aimed at the optical element. An exit window is positioned to receive light directed from the optical element. The illumination system may include a light-receiving element including a beam dump and/or a photodetector. The light-receiving element is positioned to receive light directed from the optical element. The light-receiving element and the exit window are on the same side of the optical element. The illumination system may include a light shield between the photodetector and the exit window. The light shield is positioned to shield the photodetector from light passing through the exit window.

An exposure apparatus includes a projection optical system configured to project a pattern of a mask onto a substrate, a substrate stage configured to hold and move the substrate, and a controller configured to control exposure of the substrate held by the substrate stage, wherein the controller obtains an amount of deviation of an image of the pattern projected onto the substrate with respect to the pattern of the mask based on telecentricity information, which is information on telecentricity for respective image heights of the projection optical system, and height information, which is information on the height of a surface of the substrate, and corrects deviation of the image based on the obtained amount of deviation to expose the substrate.

A method of controlling a feedback system with a data matching module of an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) radiation source is disclosed. The method includes obtaining a slit integrated energy (SLIE) sensor data and diffractive optical elements (DOE) data. The method performs a data match, by the data matching module, of a time difference of the SLIE sensor data and the DOE data to identify a mismatched set of the SLIE sensor data and the DOE data. The method also determines whether the time difference of the SLIE sensor data and the DOE data of the mismatched set is within an acceptable range. Based on the determination, the method automatically validates a configurable data of the mismatched set such that the SLIE sensor data of the mismatched set is valid for a reflectivity calculation.

A movable body apparatus has: a substrate holder holding a substrate and can move in the X and Y-axes directions; a Y coarse movement stage movable in the Y-axis direction; a first measurement system acquiring position information on the substrate holder by heads on the substrate holder and a scale on the Y coarse movement stage; a second measurement system acquiring position information on the Y coarse movement stage by heads on the Y coarse movement stage and a scale; and a control system controlling the position of the substrate holder based on position information acquired by the first and second measurement systems. The first measurement system irradiates a measurement beam while moving the heads in the X-axis direction with respect to the scale, and the second measurement system irradiates a measurement beam while moving the heads in the Y-axis direction with respect to the scale.

Methods and apparatus for processing an image of a beam generated by an optical system to extract information indicative of an extent of damage to optical elements in the optical system. Also disclosed is a beam image and analysis tool capable of acquiring an image of a beam at any one of a number of locations.

Methods and systems for setting up inspection of a specimen with design and noise based care areas are provided. One system includes one or more computer subsystems configured for generating a design-based care area for a specimen. The computer subsystem(s) are also configured for determining one or more output attributes for multiple instances of the care area on the specimen, and the one or more output attributes are determined from output generated by an output acquisition subsystem for the multiple instances. The computer subsystem(s) are further configured for separating the multiple instances of the care area on the specimen into different care area sub-groups such that the different care area sub-groups have statistically different values of the output attribute(s) and selecting a parameter of an inspection recipe for the specimen based on the different care area sub-groups.

Disclosed are reticle management methods and semiconductor device fabrication methods. The reticle management method includes inspecting a reticle using a first inspection method, inspecting a reticle pod storing the reticle using a second inspection method different from the first inspection method, and cleaning the reticle pod when a particle is present on the reticle pod.

A method for correcting a reflective optical element for the wavelength range between 5 nm and 20 nm, which includes a multilayer system on a substrate. The multilayer system has layers consisting of at least two alternately arranged different materials with a different real component of the refractive index for a wavelength in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range. The method includes: measuring the reflectivity distribution over the surface of the multilayer system; comparing the measured reflectivity distribution to a nominal distribution of the reflectivity over the surface of the multilayer system, determining at least one partial surface having a measured reflectivity above the nominal reflectivity; and irradiating the at least one partial surface with ions or electrons.

A system for stochastic reticle defect dispositioning is disclosed. The system includes a controller including one or more processors and memory. The one or more processors configured to acquire product metrology data of a product reticle. The one or more processors configured to perform one or more stochastic simulations based on the product metrology data to generate one or more simulated product samples including the pattern of elements. The one or more processors configured to generate a product model of the product reticle modeling the printing process of the pattern of elements by the product reticle. The one or more processors configured to identify at least one of a care area of the product reticle which is susceptible to printing stochastic defects on product samples, or a care area on the one or more simulated product samples which is susceptible to printed stochastic defects based on the product model.

Disclosed is method of optimizing bandwidth of measurement illumination for a measurement application, and an associated metrology apparatus. The method comprises performing a reference measurement with reference measurement illumination having a reference bandwidth and performing one or more optimization measurements, each of said one or more optimization measurements being performed with measurement illumination having a varied candidate bandwidth. The one or more optimization measurements are compared with the reference measurement; and an optimal bandwidth for the measurement application is selected based on the comparison.