Provided are a method for testing a photosensitive composition and a method for producing a photosensitive composition that can easily test whether or not the photosensitive composition exhibits a predetermined LWR. The method for testing a photosensitive composition has a step 1 of using a reference photosensitive composition including an acid decomposable resin having a group that is decomposed by an action of an acid to generate a polar group and a photoacid generator, to form a resist film on a substrate 1, removing the resist film on the substrate 1 using a treatment liquid, and measuring a number of defects on the substrate 1 in which the resist film on the substrate 1 has been removed, to obtain reference data; a step 2 of using a photosensitive composition for measurement including components of the same types as types of components included in the reference photosensitive composition, to form a resist film on a substrate 2, removing the resist film on the substrate 2 using a treatment liquid, and measuring a number of defects on the substrate 2 in which the resist film on the substrate 2 has been removed, to obtain measurement data; and a step 3 of performing comparison between the reference data and the measurement data to determine whether or not an allowable range is satisfied, wherein the treatment liquid includes predetermined components.

A method of measuring an overlay or focus parameter from a target and associated metrology apparatus. The method includes configuring measurement radiation to obtain a configured measurement spectrum of the measurement radiation by: imposing an intensity weighting on individual wavelength bands of the measurement radiation such that the individual wavelength bands have an intensity according to the intensity weighting, the intensity weighting being such that a measured value for the overlay or focus parameter is at least partially corrected for the effect of target imperfections; and/or imposing a modulation on a measurement spectrum of the measurement radiation. The configured measurement radiation is used to measure the target. A value for the overlay or focus parameter is determined from scattered radiation resultant from measurement of the target.

A method may include, but is not limited to, receiving a measurement including a metrology parameter for a layer of a metrology target and an alignment mark from an overlay metrology tool prior to a lithography process; deriving a merit figure from the metrology parameter and the alignment mark; deriving a correction factor from the merit figure; providing the correction factor to the lithography process via a feed forward process; receiving an additional measurement including an additional metrology parameter for the layer and an additional layer from an additional overlay metrology tool after the lithography process; deriving an adjustment from the additional metrology parameter; and providing the adjustment to the lithography process via a feedback process.

Methods and corresponding metrology modules and systems, which measure metrology parameter(s) of a previous layer of a metrology target and/or an alignment mark, prior to producing a current layer of the metrology target, derive merit figure(s) from the measured metrology parameter(s) to indicate an inaccuracy, and compensate for the inaccuracy to enhance subsequent overlay measurements of the metrology target. In an example embodiment, methods and corresponding metrology modules and systems use stand-alone metrology tool(s) and track-integrated metrology tool(s) at distinct measurement patterns to address separately different aspects of variation among wafers.

Generating a design (e.g., a metrology mark or a device pattern to be printed on a substrate) that is optimized for aberration sensitivity related to an optical system of a lithography system. A metrology mark (e.g., a transmission image sensor (TIS) mark) is optimized for a given device pattern by matching the aberration sensitivity of the metrology mark with the aberration sensitivity of the device pattern. A cost function that includes the aberration sensitivity difference between the metrology mark and the device pattern is evaluated based on an imaging characteristic response (e.g., a critical dimension (CD) response to focus) obtained from a simulation model that simulates lithography. The cost function is evaluated by modifying the metrology mark until the cost function is minimized and an optimized metrology mark is output when the cost function is minimized.

A method may include receiving time-varying interference signals from two or more photodetectors associated with a grating structure and a reference grating structure. The grating structure may include one or more diffraction gratings, where the reference grating structure includes a reference grating arranged next to the one or more diffraction gratings of the grating structure and where the one or more illumination beams simultaneously interact with grating structure and the reference grating structure as the sample is scanned relative to the illumination beam. The method may include determining at least one of a real-time position or a scanning velocity of the grating structure during the scan based on the reference grating signal. The method may include determining one or more overlay errors based on the grating signals from the grating structure and the real-time position of the grating structure during the scan determined based on the reference grating signal.

Methods and systems for measurements of semiconductor structures based on a trained whole wafer measurement model that is valid for all possible measurement locations on a wafer are described herein. A whole wafer measurement model is trained based on Design Of Experiments (DOE) measurement data collected across an entire wafer or set of wafers subjected to the same set of process steps. By employing DOE measurement data across an entire wafer or set of wafers, information about process behavior across the entire wafer is implicitly incorporated into the trained model at all locations across the wafer under measurement. The model training process encourages physical process behavior, which reduces the degrees of freedom of the underlying model, breaks correlations between parameters, and reduces the dimension of the solution space. As a result, measurement performance and robustness is improved.

An overlay measurement device includes a light source configured to direct an illumination to an overlay measurement target in which a first overlay key in a first layer and a second overlay key in a second layer are positioned, the second layer being stacked on an upper portion or a lower portion of the first layer, a lens assembly including an objective lens configured to condense the illumination on a measurement position of at least one point in the overlay measurement target and a lens focus actuator configured to control a distance between the objective lens and the overlay measurement target, and a detector configured to acquire a focus image at the measurement position based on a beam reflected on the measurement position.

A computer implemented method for simulating an aerial image of a design of a photolithography mask comprises: obtaining an illumination angle distribution in the pupil plane of the light source; selecting a number of illumination angles by solving an optimization problem; for each selected illumination angle, simulating an electromagnetic near field; for at least one further illumination angle of the illumination angle distribution in the pupil plane of the light source approximating an electromagnetic near field; and obtaining the simulated aerial image of the design of the photolithography mask by superimposing the intensities obtained by imaging the electromagnetic near fields into a wafer plane. Systems can detect defects or assess the relevance of defects or for aligning aerial images.

Method and machine utilizes the real-time recipe to perform weak point inspection on a series of wafers during the fabrication of integrated circuits. Each real-time recipe essentially corresponds to a practical fabrication history of a wafer to be examined and/or the examination results of at least one examined wafer of same lot. Therefore, different wafers can be examined by using different recipes where each recipe corresponds to a specific condition of a wafer to be examined, even these wafers are received by a machine for examining at the same time.