A measurement device is equipped with a surface plate, a slider which holds a substrate and which is movable relative to the surface plate, a drive system that moves the slider, a first position measurement system which measures the slider's first position information relative to the surface plate, a measurement unit having a mark detection system that detects a mark on a substrate, a second position measurement system which measures a relative second position information between the mark detection system and substrate, and a controller which obtains the first position information from the first position measurement system and second position information from the second position measurement system while controlling the slider's movement by the drive system, and obtains position information of a plurality of marks based on detection signals of the mark detection system having detected marks on the substrate, the first position information, and the second position information.

A method in which alignment control of a member and a substrate is effected with respect to an in-plane direction of the substrate and an uncured material in a state of bringing a member and the uncured material on a substrate into contact with each other is cured. The method includes a step of bringing the member and the substrate near to each other while effecting the alignment control, based on a driving profile, after the alignment control is started, to bring the member and the uncured material into contact with each other, and then the uncured material is cured, and a step of increasing a gap between the member and the substrate, after the uncured material is cured, wherein the driving profile for the alignment control after the alignment control is started and at least one of before and after the member contacts the uncured material is changed.

A method for correcting misalignments is provided. An alignment for each device of a group of devices mounted on a substrate is determined. An alignment error for the group of devices mounted on the substrate is determined based on the respective alignment for each device. One or more correction factors are calculated based on the alignment error. The alignment error is corrected based on the one or more correction factors.

The present invention provides an imprint apparatus comprising a deforming unit configured to deform a pattern surface by applying a force to a mold, a measuring unit configured to measure a deformation amount of the pattern surface, a control unit configured to control the measuring unit to measure the deformation amount in each of a plurality of states in which a plurality of the forces are applied to the mold, a calculation unit configured to calculate a rate of change in the deformation amount as a function of a change in the force applied to the mold, and a calibration unit configured to calibrate a control profile describing a time in the imprint process, and the force applied to the mold, based on the rate of change in the deformation amount.

A measurement device is equipped with a surface plate, a slider which holds a substrate and which is movable relative to the surface plate, a drive system that moves the slider, a first position measurement system which measures the slider's first position information relative to the surface plate, a measurement unit having a mark detection system that detects a mark on a substrate, a second position measurement system which measures a relative second position information between the mark detection system and substrate, and a controller which obtains the first position information from the first position measurement system and second position information from the second position measurement system while controlling the slider's movement by the drive system, and obtains position information of a plurality of marks based on detection signals of the mark detection system having detected marks on the substrate, the first position information, and the second position information.

An imprint apparatus forms a pattern of an imprint material on a substrate by using a mold, while effecting alignment control of a mold and a substrate with respect to an in-plane direction of the substrate. A mold holding portion holds the mold. A substrate holding portion holds the substrate. A control portion effects control so that the mold and the substrate are brought near to each other while effecting the alignment control, based on a driving profile, after the alignment control is started, to bring the mold and the imprint material into contact with each other. The imprint material is then cured. The control portion changes the driving profile for the alignment control after the alignment control is started and at least one of before and after the mold contacts the imprint material.

An alignment system (100) and method for positioning and/or keeping a first object (1) at a controlled distanced (D1) with respect to a second object (2). An object stage (11) is configured to hold a surface (1a) of the first object (1) at a distance (D1) over a surface (2a) of the second object (2). A sensor device (31) comprising a probe tip (31a) is connected at a predetermined probe level distance (Dp) relative to the surface (1a) of the first object (1). The probe tip (31a) is configured to perform an atomic force measurement (AFM) of a force (F1) exerted via the probe tip (31a) on a surface (2a) of the second object (2). A controller (80) is configured to control an object stage actuator (21) as a function of the probe level distance (Dp) and the measured force (F1) to maintain the controlled distanced (D1).

Metrology apparatus and methods are disclosed for measuring a structure formed on a substrate. In one arrangement, different components of a radiation beam are selectively extracted after reflection from the structure and independently detected. For each component, radiation is selected from one of a plurality of predetermined regions in a downstream pupil plane of the optical system downstream from the structure. Radiation is further selected from one of two predetermined orthogonal polarization states. The predetermined orthogonal polarization states are oriented differently as a pair for each of at least a subset of components comprising radiation selected from different predetermined regions in the downstream pupil plane.

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 is disclosed the method comprising: 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.

A method for determining one or more optimized values of an operational parameter of a sensor system configured to measure a property of a substrate is disclosed. The method includes: determining a quality parameter for a plurality of substrates; determining measurement parameter values for the plurality of substrates 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 parameter values; and determining the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter based on the comparing.