A discharge apparatus includes a discharge unit and a detection unit. The discharge unit is configured to discharge liquid containing a volatile compound from a discharge port. The detection unit is configured to detect discharge of the liquid by detecting, using light, a volatile component volatilizing from the liquid when the liquid is discharged from the discharge port.

Embodiments described herein may be related to apparatuses, processes, and techniques related to using full stack overlay cell (FSOL) targets within lithography masks and on fabricated layers of a substrate in order to align or to assess the alignment of fabricated layers of the substrate during the substrate manufacturing process. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

A semiconductor device, including: a first memory cell including a first transistor; a second memory cell including a second transistor, where the second transistor overlays the first transistor and the second transistor self-aligned to the first transistor; and a plurality of junctionless transistors, where at least one of the junctionless transistors controls access to at least one of the memory cells.

A method for selecting an optimal set of locations for a measurement or feature on a substrate, the method includes: defining a first candidate solution of locations, defining a second candidate solution with locations based on modification of a coordinate in a solution domain of the first candidate solution, and selecting the first and/or second candidate solution as the optimal solution according to a constraint associated with the substrate.

A mark field, having at least two location marks with information for the location of the respective location mark in the mark field, and at least one position mark, which is or can be assigned to one of the location marks. Furthermore, the invention relates to a device for determining X-Y positions of structural features of structures arranged on a substrate, wherein the X-Y positions relative to the mark field, which is fixed with respect to the substrate, can be determined. Furthermore, the invention relates to a corresponding method.

A pattern forming apparatus which forms a pattern on a substrate, which includes a movable stage, a holding unit removably attached to the stage and configured to suck and hold the substrate, an optical system of which position with respect to the holding unit is fixed, and configured to detect an alignment mark of the substrate which is sucked by the holding unit from a suction surface side of the substrate, a reference mark for measuring a position of a detection field of the optical system, and a detection system configured to detect the reference mark. The substrate is disposed on the holding unit in accordance with the position of the reference mark detected by the detection system so that the alignment mark of the substrate detected from the suction surface side of the substrate by the optical system is disposed in the detection field of the optical system.

Two pairs of alignment targets (one aligned, one misaligned by a bias distance) are formed on different masks to produce a first pair of conjugated interference patterns. Other pairs of alignment targets are also formed on the masks to produce a second pair of conjugated interference patterns that are inverted the first. Misalignment of the dark and light regions of first interference patterns and the second interference patterns in both pairs of conjugated interference patterns is determined when patterns formed using the masks are overlaid. A magnification factor (of the interference pattern misalignment to the target misalignment) is calculated as a ratio of the difference of misalignment of the relatively dark and relatively light regions in the pairs of interference patterns, over twice the bias distance. The interference pattern misalignment is divided by the magnification factor to produce a self-referenced and self-calibrated target misalignment amount, which is then output.

A resonant amplitude grating mark has a periodic structure configured to scatter radiation incident on the mark. The scattering is mainly by coupling of the incident radiation to a waveguiding mode in the periodic structure. The effective refractive indexes and lengths of portions of the periodic structure are configured to provide an optical path length of the unit cell in the direction of periodicity that essentially equals an integer multiple of a wavelength present in the radiation. The effective refractive indexes and lengths of the portions are also configured to provide an optical path length of the second portion in the direction of periodicity that is selected from 0.30 to 0.49 of the wavelength present in the spectrum of the radiation.

Disclosed is a substrate and associated patterning device. The substrate comprises at least one target arrangement suitable for metrology of a lithographic process, the target arrangement comprising at least one pair of similar target regions which are arranged such that the target arrangement is, or at least the target regions for measurement in a single direction together are, centrosymmetric. A metrology method is also disclosed for measuring the substrate. A metrology method is also disclosed comprising which comprises measuring such a target arrangement and determining a value for a parameter of interest from the scattered radiation, while correcting for distortion of the metrology apparatus used.

A method of, and associated apparatuses for, performing a position measurement on an alignment mark including at least a first periodic structure having a direction of periodicity along a first direction. The method includes obtaining signal data relating to the position measurement and fitting the signal data to determine a position value. The fitting uses one of a modulation fit or a background envelope periodic fit.