Methods and apparatuses for determining a position of an alignment mark applied to a region of a first layer on a substrate using a lithographic process by: obtaining an expected position of the alignment mark; obtaining a geometrical deformation of the region due to a control action correcting the lithographic process; obtaining a translation of the alignment mark due to the geometrical deformation; and determining the position of the alignment mark based on the expected position and the translation.

Methods and apparatuses for measuring a target formed on a substrate. The target includes an alignment structure and a metrology structure. In one method, a first measurement process is performed that includes illuminating the target with first radiation and detecting radiation resulting from scattering of the first radiation from the target. A second measurement process includes illuminating the target with second radiation and detecting radiation resulting from scattering of the second radiation from the target. The first measurement process detects a position of the alignment structure. The second measurement process uses the position of the alignment structure detected by the first measurement process to align a radiation spot of the second radiation onto a desired location within the metrology structure.

An apparatus for determining a characteristic of a feature of an object comprises: a measurement radiation source; a measurement radiation delivery system; a measurement system; a pump radiation source; and a pump radiation delivery system. The measurement radiation source is operable to produce measurement radiation and the measurement radiation delivery system is operable to irradiate at least a part of a top surface of the object with the measurement radiation. The measurement system is operable to receive at least a portion of the measurement radiation scattered from the top surface and is further operable to determine a characteristic of the feature of the object from at least a portion of the measurement radiation scattered from the top surface. The pump radiation source is operable to produce pump radiation and the pump radiation delivery system is operable to irradiate at least a part of the top surface of the object with the pump radiation so as to produce a mechanical response (for example an acoustic wave) in the object.

The present disclosure provides a color filter substrate including: a base substrate; and a filter layer on the base substrate and including a plurality of color resist units of a plurality of colors. Orthographic projections of adjacent color resist units of different colors on the base substrate have an overlapping region. Therefore, the color filter substrate has at least one of the following advantages: the structure is simple; the production cost is reduced; the aperture ratio of the display device including the color filter substrate is improved; and the defect caused by static electricity is solved.

A pattern forming apparatus configured to form a pattern on a substrate includes a holding portion configured to hold the substrate by suction, an optical system configured to detect, from a suction surface side of the substrate, an alignment mark provided to the substrate held by the holding portion, and a unit configured to shield light entering the optical system.

Optical control modules for integrated circuit device patterning and reticles and methods including the same. The methods include exposing, via a reticle, initial and subsequent reticle exposure fields on a surface of a semiconductor substrate. The initial and subsequent reticle exposure fields pattern corresponding array regions and margin regions on the semiconductor substrate. The initial and subsequent reticle exposure fields partially overlap such that an initial optical control module (OCM), which is patterned during exposure of the initial reticle exposure field, and a subsequent OCM, which is patterned during exposure of the subsequent reticle exposure field, both are positioned within a single control module die. The reticles include reticles that can be utilized during the methods or that can form the integrated circuit devices. The integrated circuit devices include integrated circuit devices formed utilizing the methods or the reticles.

According to one embodiment, there is provided an exposure apparatus which projects a pattern of an original onto a substrate by a projection optical system so as to expose the substrate. The exposure apparatus includes a substrate stage, an alignment detecting system, and a controller. The substrate stage holds the substrate on which shot areas each including multiple chip areas are placed. The alignment detecting system detects multiple first alignment marks placed in a peripheral region in a first chip area in the shot area. The controller obtains the first amount of positional deviation for the first chip area according to results of detecting the multiple first alignment marks and controls exposure conditions for the first chip area in the shot area according to the first amount of positional deviation.

According to one embodiment, a pattern forming method includes forming a resist film including a first core material pattern and a second core material pattern, on a first film laminated on a substrate; forming a second film at least on sidewalls of the first and second core material patterns; removing the first core material pattern while not removing the second core material pattern and the second film; and processing the first film by using, as a mask, the second core material pattern and the second film.

Provided is an imprinting method suitable for positioning. The imprinting method includes: supplying an imprint material onto a substrate; bringing a patterned portion of a mold into contact with the imprint material, which has been supplied onto the substrate in the supplying of the imprint material, to form a pattern on the imprint material in a predetermined pattern region on the substrate; and increasing viscosity of the imprint material at a predetermined position, which includes a position of a predetermined mark provided on the substrate, other than the pattern region to be higher than viscosity of the imprint material in the pattern region after the supplying of the imprint material and before the bringing of the patterned portion into contact with the imprint material.

A method of disposing a substrate on a holding unit using a pattern forming apparatus which forms a pattern on the substrate, the pattern forming apparatus comprising: a stage, the holding unit removably attached to the stage and configured to suck and hold the substrate, an optical system, and configured to detect an alignment mark of the substrate from a suction surface side of the substrate, the optical system having plural optical elements, and a detection unit configured to detect a reference mark for measuring a position of a detection field of the optical system, the method comprising: detecting a position of the reference mark, and disposing the substrate on the holding unit using the detected position of the reference mark 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.