In corner sections of first to fourth quadrants whose origin point is a center of an upper surface of a stage, three each of two-dimensional heads are provided. The three each of two-dimensional heads include one first head and two second heads. The stage is driven, while measuring a position of the stage using three first heads that face a two-dimensional grating of a scale plate provided above the stage from the four first heads, and during the driving, difference data of measurement values of the two second heads with respect to the first head in a measurement direction are taken in for head groups to which the three first heads belong, respectively, and using the difference data, grid errors are calibrated.

A stage apparatus includes a surface plate as well as a guide shaft fixedly secured to the surface plate, a drive member moving along the guide shaft, and a hydrostatic fluid bearing that forms fluid films in the gap portion between the guide shaft and the drive member. The apparatus further includes: a positional deviation detection sectionfor detecting a relative positional deviation which occurs between the guide shaft and the drive member and which affects the thickness dimensions of the fluid films; and a state decision section for making a decision on the condition of the apparatus itself based on the positional deviation detected by the detection section and outputting information responsive to the decision.

In one embodiment, a method is for generating write data for resizing a write pattern to be written with an energy beam. The method includes connecting vertices of the write pattern with a plurality of vectors, extracting a pair of collinear vectors pointing in opposite directions from the vectors, dividing the write pattern into a plurality of figures with a line passing between two adjacent ends of the extracted pair of vectors and extending in a direction orthogonal to the pair of vectors, and generating write data for each of the figures, the write data containing figure data and resizing information, the figure data indicating a shape, a size, and a position of the figure, the resizing information indicating resizing or non-resizing, resizing directions in the resizing, and an amount of resizing in each of the resizing directions.

A charged particle beam drawing apparatus of an embodiment includes: a graphic information file for storing graphic information for each of elements (for example, patterns) at a level underlying an element (for example, a cell) at a particular level in hierarchically-structured drawing data which has elements at each level; and an attribute information file for storing attribute information to be given to each of the elements at the underlying level in association with information (for example, an index number) on the element at the particular level.

The invention relates to a method for determining a beamlet position in a charged particle multi-beamlet exposure apparatus. The apparatus is provided with a sensor comprising a conversion element for converting charged particle energy into light and a light sensitive detector. The conversion element is provided with a sensor surface area provided with a 2D-pattern of beamlet blocking and non-blocking regions. The method comprises taking a plurality of measurements and determining the position of the beamlet with respect to the 2D-pattern on the basis of a 2D-image created by means of the measurements. Each measurement comprises exposing a feature onto a portion of the 2D-pattern with a beamlet, wherein the feature position differs for each measurement, receiving light transmitted through the non-blocking regions, converting the received light into a light intensity value, and assigning the light intensity value to the position at which the measurement was taken.

Disclosed is an apparatus in a semiconductor lithography system. The apparatus comprises a multiplexer and a plurality of imaging elements. The plurality is configured into a shift chain and an output of the shift chain is coupled to a data input of the multiplexer.

Apparatus and method for aligning a rotatable substrate. In some embodiments, a circumferentially extending timing pattern is formed on a substrate. The timing pattern nominally extends about a center point of the substrate at a selected radius. The substrate is mounted to a support mechanism which rotates the substrate about a central axis. Due to mechanical tolerances, the central axis will be offset from the center point of the substrate as a result of an alignment error during the mounting of the substrate. The offset between the support mechanism central axis and the center point of the substrate is determined using a detector that detects two opposing cross-over transitions of the timing pattern during each revolution of the substrate. A feature may be written to the substrate by positioning a write element with respect to the substrate responsive to the detected offset.

A method for transferring a fractured pattern decomposed into elementary shapes, onto a substrate by direct writing by a particle or photon beam, comprises a step of identifying at least one elementary shape of the fractured pattern, called removable elementary shape, whose removal induces modifications of the transferred pattern within a preset tolerance envelope; a step of removing the removable shape or shapes from the fractured pattern to obtain a modified fractured pattern; and an exposure step, comprising exposing the substrate to a plurality of shots of a shaped particle or photon beam, each shot corresponding to an elementary shape of the modified fractured pattern. A computer program product for carrying out such a method is provided.

There is provided a charged particle beam exposure apparatus which turns an array beam including a plurality of charged particle beams, being arranged side by side in a line in a direction intersecting line patterns, on and off at predetermined blanking timing, and thus performs irradiation when irradiated positions of the charged particle beams arrive at pattern positions. The charged particle beam exposure apparatus improves data processing control by segmenting a sample provided with line patterns into a plurality of exposure ranges each at a predetermined length in a direction of movement, and performing on-off control of the beams based on a point of time when the array beam passes on a reference position set in the exposure region.

One embodiment relates to an apparatus for aberration correction in an electron beam lithography system. An inner electrode surrounds a pattern generating device, and there is at least one outer electrode around the inner electrode. Each of the inner and outer electrodes has a planar surface in a plane of the pattern generating device. Circuitry is configured to apply an inner voltage level to the inner electrode and at least one outer voltage level to the at least one outer electrode. The voltage levels may be set to correct a curvature of field in the electron beam lithography system. Another embodiment relates to an apparatus for aberration correction used in an electron based system, such as an electron beam inspection, or review, or metrology system. Other embodiments, aspects and features are also disclosed.