An imprint apparatus for forming a pattern of an imprint material on a substrate using a mold having a mesa including a pattern region where a pattern and a mark are formed. The apparatus includes an alignment optical system which includes an illumination system configured to illuminate the mark with illumination light and a detecting system configured to detect an image of the mark illuminated by the illumination system. The illumination system includes a limiter configured to limit incidence of the illumination light to a side of the mesa, a ridge line of the mesa, and an outer region of the side.

A patterning device pre-alignment sensor system is disclosed. The system comprises at least one illumination source configured to provide an incident beam along a normal direction towards a patterning device. The system further comprises an object lens group channel along the normal direction configured to receive a 0th order refracted beam from the patterning device. The system further comprises a first light reflector configured to redirect the 0th order refracted beam to form a first retroreflected beam. The system further comprises a first image lens group channel configured to transmit the first retroreflected beam to a first light sensor. The first light sensor is configured to detect the first retroreflected beam to determine a location feature of the patterning device.

An imprint lithography method for positioning substrates includes supporting first and second substrates respectively atop first and second chucks, pneumatically suspending the first and second chucks laterally within first and second bushings, supporting the first and second chucks vertically within the first and second bushings, maintaining the first and second chucks respectively in first and second fixed rotational orientations, and forcing the first and second chucks in a downward direction independently of each other respectively against first and second vertical resistive forces until first and second top surfaces of the first and second substrates are coplanar, while maintaining the first and second chucks suspended laterally within the first and second bushings and while maintaining the first and second chucks in the first and second fixed rotational orientations.

Methods and apparatuses related to fiducial designs for fiducial markers on glass substrates, or other transparent or translucent substrates, are disclosed. Example fiducial designs can facilitate visual recognition by enhancing edge detection in visual perception. In example fiducial designs, optical features on glass substrates can re-direct light so as to present a bright image region. Such optical features can include surface relief patterns formed in a coating on the surface of glass substrates. An exemplary method for manufacturing the fiducial markers can involve transfers of a fiducial design across a master mold or plate, a submaster mold or plate, and a target glass substrate. A fiducial marker can facilitate the use of the substrate in a variety of applications, including machine vision systems that facilitate automated performance of manufacturing processes on input working material.

An imprint lithography apparatus having a first frame to be mounted on a floor, a second frame mounted on the first frame via a kinematic coupling, an alignment sensor mounted on the second frame, to align an imprint lithography template arrangement with a target portion of a substrate, and a position sensor to measure a position of the imprint lithography template arrangement and/or a substrate stage relative to the second frame.

An imprint apparatus is operable to perform an imprint process, which is for forming a pattern on an imprint material on a substrate by using a mold, for each of shot regions of the substrate. The apparatus includes a controller configured to control alignment between the mold and the substrate. The controller determines a target position obtained by adding a predetermined additional amount to a movement amount of a substrate stage according to a positional deviation between the mold and the substrate, starts movement of the stage towards the determined target position, and starts curing of the imprint material by a curing device at a timing at which the detected positional deviation falls within an allowable range during the movement of the stage.

An imprint apparatus performs an imprint process including aligning a substrate and a mold in a state in which the mold is in contact with an imprint material on the substrate and curing the imprint material by light irradiation after the aligning. The apparatus includes a first irradiation unit configured to perform first light irradiation of the imprint material on the substrate before bringing the mold into contact with the imprint material on the substrate for the aligning, a second irradiation unit configured to perform second light irradiation of the imprint material on the substrate in the aligning, and a third irradiation unit configured to perform third light irradiation of the imprint material on the substrate in the curing, wherein an exposure amount by the first light irradiation is determined based on an exposure amount by the second light irradiation.

The present invention provides a measurement apparatus that measures a position of an object which includes a first mark and a second mark, comprising: an image capturing unit configured to capture the first mark and the second mark in a state in which the first mark and the second mark are contained in a field of view; and a polarizing element configured to generate different polarization directions from each other in light from the first mark and in light from the second mark which are incident on the image capturing unit.

The present invention provides an imprint apparatus that forms an imprint material pattern on a substrate by using a mold, comprising: a discharge unit on which a plurality of discharge outlets configured to discharge an imprint material are arranged; a measurement unit configured to measure a relative tilt between the discharge unit and the substrate; and a control unit configured to control a process of causing the discharge unit to discharge the imprint material while relatively moving the discharge unit and the substrate to each other, wherein the control unit is configured to change a relative movement direction of the discharge unit and the substrate in the process in accordance with the relative tilt measured by the measurement unit so as to reduce an arrangement error of the imprint material, discharged from the plurality of discharge outlets, on the substrate.

Some devices, systems, and methods obtain a material map of a region; divide the region into a plurality of subregions; perform, for each of one or more subregions of the plurality of subregions, a first drop-pattern-generation process, wherein the first drop-pattern-generation process generates a respective initial drop pattern for the subregion based on the material map; and perform, for each of the one or more subregions of the plurality of subregions, a second drop-pattern-generation process, wherein the second drop-pattern-generation process generates a respective revised drop pattern for the subregion based on the material map and on the respective initial drop pattern for the subregion.