A scanner includes a light source configured to apply a light to a backside of a wafer. The light is reflected from the backside of the wafer. A first mirror is configured to receive the light from the backside of the wafer and reflect the light. A sensor is configured to receive the light from the first mirror and generate an output signal indicative of a backside topography of the wafer.

A method of determining a desired relative position between a first object of a lithographic apparatus and a second object of the lithographic apparatus. Generating a measurement signal representing a position of the first object relative to the second object, at an initial relative position. Determining a gradient associated with the initial relative position, based on the measurement signal. Determining a position set point based on the gradient and wherein the position set point comprises a three-dimensional dither signal. Controlling the position of the first object relative to the second object to a further relative position, based on the position set point.

A device and a method for manufacturing a thin film are provided. The device includes: a chamber; a substrate carrying member arranged within the chamber and configured to carry thereon a substrate on which the thin film is to be formed; a mask fixation member configured to fix a mask, wherein the mask includes a shielding region and an opening region, and a material for forming the thin film is allowed to pass through the opening region; and a position adjustment member configured to adjust a distance between the mask and the substrate to form the thin films of different sizes on the substrate, wherein orthogonal projections of the thin films of different sizes onto the substrate have different areas.

The present disclosure relates to transferring system and methods and more specifically to transferring multiple patterns or devices from a transfer medium to a substrate. The transferring apparatus comprising a first holder to hold a substrate, a second holder to hold a transfer medium, wherein the transfer medium comprises one of a: device or pattern, a first alignment system coupled to the second holder while the second holder moves in a first direction relative to one dimension of the substrate to transfer the device or the pattern; and a second alignment system coupled to the second holder while the second holder moves in a second direction relative to another dimension of the substrate to transfer the device or the pattern to the substrate, wherein the transferring apparatus is operable to transfer a plurality of devices and patterns to the substrate.

Techniques and arrangements for performing exposure operations on a wafer utilizing both a stepper apparatus and an aligner apparatus. The exposure operations are performed with respect to large composite base dies, e.g., interposers, defined within the wafer, where the interposers will become a part of microelectronic devices by coupling with active dies or microchips. The composite base dies may be coupled to the active dies via “native interconnects” utilizing direct bonding techniques. The stepper apparatus may be used to perform exposure operations on active regions of the composite base dies to provide a fine pitch for the native interconnects, while the aligner apparatus may be used to perform exposure operations on inactive regions of the composite base dies to provide a coarse pitch for interfaces with passive regions of the composite base dies.

The present invention provides a mark of wafer alignment, a manufacturing method, a wafer alignment system and a method of aligning wafer. The mark of wafer alignment may generate self-emitting infrared light when applying a forward bias and conducted. When replacing infrared light incident externally with the self-emitting infrared light and using the mark of wafer alignment for alignment, because the infrared light is generated in the wafer directly, optical loss of the external infrared light in the light path from the epitaxy layer to the wafer may be omitted. The mark of wafer alignment may be broadly applied to semiconductor devices such as power MOS, IGBT, BCD and super junction device. Further, a structure of a wafer alignment system device aligning a wafer with such a mark of wafer alignment is simple without an additional He—Ne laser.

A direct-deposition system forming a high-resolution pattern of material on a substrate is disclosed. Vaporized atoms from an evaporation source pass through a pattern of through-holes in a shadow mask to deposit on the substrate in the desired pattern. The shadow mask is held in a mask chuck that enables the shadow mask and substrate to be separated by a distance that can be less than ten microns. Prior to reaching the shadow mask, vaporized atoms pass through a collimator that operates as a spatial filter that blocks any atoms not travelling along directions that are nearly normal to the substrate surface. Vaporized atoms that pass through the shadow mask exhibit little or no lateral spread after passing through through-holes and the material deposits on the substrate in a pattern that has very high fidelity with the through-hole pattern of the shadow mask.

A method for measuring overlay between an interest level and a reference level of a wafer includes applying a magnetic field to a wafer, detecting at least one residual magnetic field emitted from at least one registration marker of a first set of registration markers within the wafer, responsive to the detected one or more residual magnetic fields, determining a location of the at least one registration marker of the first set registration markers, determining a location of at least one registration marker of a second set of registration markers, and responsive to the respective determined locations of the at least one registration marker of the first set of registration markers and the at least one registration marker of the second set of registration markers, calculating a positional offset between an interest level of the wafer and a reference level of the wafer. Related methods and systems are also disclosed.

A conveyance apparatus comprises a first movable device to move while holding an object, a second movable device to move while holding the object and transfer the object to the first movable device, and a controller to control the first and second movable devices. The second movable device includes a guide member and a hand arranged so as to be capable of reciprocally moving along the guide member while holding the object. The controller estimates, based on a driving history of the second movable device, a thermal deformation amount of the guide member corresponding to the reciprocal movement of the hand along the guide member, and corrects, based on the estimated thermal deformation amount, a drive command value used to move the first movable device to a position to receive the object from the second movable device.

According to one embodiment, a position measuring apparatus includes a substrate holding part, a projection part, a liquid supply part, an imaging part, a position measuring part, and a control unit. The substrate holding part is configured to hold a substrate including at least part of a circuit pattern. The projection part is configured to irradiate the substrate held on the substrate holding part with illumination light, and to transmit reflected light from the substrate, of the illumination light radiated on the substrate. The liquid supply part is configured to supply a liquid into a space between the substrate held on the substrate holding part and the projection part. The imaging part is configured to receive the reflected light transmitted through the projection part, and to generate an image signal based on the reflected light. The position measuring part is configured to obtain positional information on a position of the substrate holding part. The control unit is configured to determine a coordinate position of the at least part of a circuit pattern in the substrate, on a basis of the positional information and the image signal.