A control method of a movable body includes: a step of detecting a part of a plurality of grating marks provided at a wafer placed on a movable body that is movable within an XY plane, while scanning a measurement beam, that is irradiated from a mark detection system, in a Y-axis direction with respect to the part of plurality of grating marks, as moving the movable body in the Y-axis direction; a step of measuring an irradiation position of the measurement beam on the part of the plurality of grating marks; and a step of relatively moving the measurement beam and the movable body in an X-axis direction on the basis of the measurement result of the irradiation position and also detecting another grating mark while scanning the measurement beam in the Y-axis direction.

A method including performing a simulation to evaluate a plurality of metrology targets and/or a plurality of metrology recipes used to measure a metrology target, identifying one or more metrology targets and/or metrology recipes from the evaluated plurality of metrology targets and/or metrology recipes, receiving measurement data of the one or more identified metrology targets and/or metrology recipes, and using the measurement data to tune a metrology target parameter or metrology recipe parameter.

Aspects of the present disclosure provide a method of aligning a wafer pattern. For example, the method can include providing a wafer having a reference pattern located below a front side of the wafer, and directing a light beam to the wafer. The method can further include identifying at least one of power and a wavelength of the light beam such that the light beam is capable of passing through the wafer and reaching the reference pattern, or identifying at least one of power and a wavelength of the light beam based on at least one of a material of the wafer and a depth of the reference pattern below the front side of the wafer. The method can further include using the light beam to image the reference pattern.

An optical apparatus and a lithographic apparatus including the optical apparatus. The optical apparatus includes a substrate having an aperture for passing light; a transmissive optical element covering the aperture of the substrate; and an optical contact bond between the substrate and transmissive optical element, the optical contact bond being spaced from the aperture a sufficient distance such that stress forces in the transmissive optical element from the optical contact bond to the aperture are below an acceptable stress threshold. The optical contact bond geometry herein, for example, minimizes a contact area and provides a quasi-kinematic (near-exactly constrained) interface between the substrate and the optical element.

A pattern drawing apparatus includes a first image-pickup device for reading an alignment mark and reading a first pattern image for detecting a positional shift, a second image-pickup device for reading the first pattern image and reading a second pattern image for detecting a positional shift drawn by an irradiation light beam from the optical head while carrying out a relative movement between the table and the optical head, and a positional shift detection unit for obtaining a first coordinate difference between a center of a visual field of the first image-pickup device and a center of the first pattern based on a read image by the first image-pickup device and obtaining a second coordinate difference between the center of the first pattern and a specific position of the second pattern based on a read image by the second image-pickup device.

A measurement device has: a slider which holds a substrate and is movable parallel to the XY plane; a drive system that drives the slider; a position measurement system which emits beams from a head section to a measurement surface in which grating section are provided on the slider, which receives respective return beams of the beams from the measurement surface, and which is capable of measuring position information in at least directions of three degrees of freedom including the absolute position coordinates of the slider; a mark detection system that detects a mark on the substrate; and a controller which detects the marks on the substrate using the mark detection system while controlling the drive of the slider, and which obtains the absolute position coordinates of each mark based on the detection result of each mark and measurement information by the position measurement system at the time of detection.

A measurement system used in a manufacturing line for micro-devices includes: a plurality of measurement devices in which each device performs measurement processing on a substrate; and a carrying system to perform delivery of a substrate with the plurality of measurement devices. The plurality of measurement devices includes a first measurement device that acquires position information on a plurality of marks formed on a substrate, and a second measurement device that acquires position information on a plurality of marks formed on a substrate. Position information on a plurality of marks formed on a substrate can be acquired under a setting of a first predetermined condition in the first measurement device, and position information on a plurality of marks formed on another substrate can be acquired under a setting of a second predetermined condition different from the first predetermined condition in the second measurement device.

A template includes: a base material having a surface including a first pattern, a second pattern and a third pattern, the first pattern including a first recess, the second pattern including a second recess. The base material containing a first material having a first refractive index; a first layer disposed in the first recess and containing a second material, the second material having a second refractive index different from the first refractive index; and a second layer disposed in the second recess, containing the second material, and being thicker than the first layer.

A method includes exposing number of fields on a substrate, obtaining data about a field and correcting exposure of the field in subsequent exposures. The method includes defining one or more sub-fields of the field based on the obtained data. Data relating to each sub-field is processed to produce sub-field correction information. A subsequent exposure of the one or more sub-fields is corrected using the sub-field correction information. By controlling a lithographic apparatus by reference to data of a particular sub-field within a field, overlay error can be reduced or minimized for a critical feature, rather than being averaged over the whole field. By controlling a lithographic apparatus with reference to a sub-field rather than only the whole field, a residual error can be reduced in each sub-field.

A detecting apparatus configured to detect a position of a predetermined pattern on a substrate includes a first detecting system configured to detect a position of a first predetermined pattern in a first field of view, and a second detecting system configured to detect a position of a second predetermined pattern with a smaller shift amount than that of the first predetermined pattern in a second field of view narrower than the first field of view.