An overlay metrology tool may include an illumination source to generate a first illumination beam distribution with a first linear polarization and a second illumination beam distribution with a second linear polarization orthogonal to the first linear polarization, an illumination sub-system to sequentially illuminate two or more cell pairs of an overlay target on a sample having orthogonally oriented grating-over-grating structures, a collection sub-system with two collection channels to capture collected light from an illuminated cell pair and filtering optics to direct light from different cells in an illuminated cell pair to different collection channels for detection. The tool may further include a controller to generate separate overlay measurements for orthogonally-oriented grating-over-grating structures in the two or more cell pairs.

Apparatus and method for measuring one or more parameters of a substrate (300) using source radiation emitted from a radiation source (100) and directed onto the substrate. The apparatus comprises at least one reflecting element (710a) and at least one detector (720, 721). The at least one reflecting element is configured to receive a reflected radiation resulting from reflection of the source radiation from the substrate and further reflect the reflected radiation into a further reflected radiation. The at least one detector is configured for measurement of the further reflected radiation for determination of at least an alignment of the source radiation and/or the substrate

The present invention provides a large die, a method of forming the large die and a large die wafer. The method includes: providing a wafer containing a plurality of large dies each having a size greater than that of a maximum field of exposure of a stepper, each large die including at least two die portions to be stitched together, the die portions including a substrate and a first metal layer, the first metal layer including at least to-be-interconnected metal layers for interconnection of the die portions; and forming a second metal layer including at least inter-die interconnecting metal layers crossing dummy dicing margins between adjacent die portions and coming into electrical connection with the to-be-interconnected metal layers of the adjacent die portions. The present invention allows interconnection of the die portions to be stitched together in each large die.

An apparatus and method to determine a property of a substrate by measuring, in the pupil plane of a high numerical aperture lens, an angle-resolved spectrum as a result of radiation being reflected off the substrate. The property may be angle and wavelength dependent and may include the intensity of TM- and TE-polarized radiation and their relative phase difference.

In a dark-field metrology method using a small target, a characteristic of an image of the target, obtained using a single diffraction order, is determined by fitting a combination fit function to the measured image. The combination fit function includes terms selected to represent aspects of the physical sensor and the target. Some coefficients of the combination fit function are determined based on parameters of the measurement process and/or target. In an embodiment the combination fit function includes jinc functions representing the point spread function of a pupil stop in the imaging system.

A method of performing metrology analysis of a thin film includes coupling a radiation into an optical element disposed adjacent to a surface of the thin film. The radiation is coupled such that the radiation is totally internally reflected at an interface between the optical element and the thin film. An evanescent radiation generated at the interface penetrates the thin film. The method furthers include analyzing the evanescent radiation scattered by the thin film to obtain properties of the thin film.

Systems and methods for in-die metrology using target design patterns are provided. These systems and methods include selecting a target design pattern based on design data representing the design of an integrated circuit, providing design data indicative of the target design pattern to enable design data derived from the target design pattern to be added to second design data, wherein the second design data is based on the first design data. Systems and methods can further include causing structures derived from the second design data to be printed on a wafer, inspecting the structures on the wafer using a charged-particle beam tool, and identifying metrology data or process defects based on the inspection. In some embodiments the systems and methods further include causing the charged-particle beam tool, the second design data, a scanner, or photolithography equipment to be adjusted based on the identified metrology data or process defects.

Provided is a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, including providing a substrate including a first region and a second region; forming an alignment mark in the substrate in the second region; forming a material layer on a first surface of the substrate in the first region and the second region; introducing heteroatoms into the substrate in the second region from a second surface of the substrate; and reacting the heteroatoms with the substrate to form a dielectric layer overlapping the alignment mark in the substrate in the second region.

The embodiments of the disclosure provide a patterning method, which includes the following processes. A target layer is formed on a substrate. A hard mask layer is formed over the target layer. A first patterning process is performed on the hard mask layer by using a photomask having a first pattern with a first pitch. The photomask is shifted along a first direction by a first distance. A second patterning process is performed on the hard mask layer by using the photomask that has been shifted, so as to form a patterned hard mask. The target layer is patterned using the patterned hard mask to form a patterned target layer. The target layer has a second pattern with a second pitch less than the first pitch.

A method including: computing a value of a first variable of a pattern of, or for, a substrate processed by a patterning process by combining a fingerprint of the first variable on the substrate and a certain value of the first variable; and determining a value of a second variable of the pattern based at least in part on the computed value of the first variable.