Asml Netherlands B.v.

Asml Holding N.v.

Armand Eugene Albert Koolen

Nitesh Pandey

Arie Jeffrey Den Boef

Patricius Aloysius Jacobus Tinnemans

Patrick Warnaar

Willem Marie Julia Marcel Coene

Vasco Tomas Tenner

Hugo Augustinus Joseph Cramer

Gerbrand Van Der Zouw

Zili Zhou

Martin Jacobus Johan Jak

Hendrik Jan Hidde Smilde

Markus Franciscus Antonius Eurlings

Stanislav Y Smirnov

Bastiaan Onne Fagginger Auer

Sergey Tarabrin

Johannes Matheus Marie De Wit

Maurits Van Der Schaar

Simon Gijsbert Josephus Mathijssen

Sebastianus Adrianus Goorden

Henricus Petrus Maria Pellemans

Teunis Willem Tukker

Yevgeniy Konstantinovich Shmarev

Alessandro Polo

Jin Lian

Sergei Sokolov

Hilko Dirk Bos

Su-Ting Cheng

Hui Quan Lim

Arno Jan Bleeker

Justin Lloyd Kreuzer

Kaustuve Bhattacharyya

Paul Christiaan Hinnen

Jozef Maria Finders

Hans Van Der Laan

Heine Melle Mulder

Henricus Wilhelmus Maria Van Buel

Han-Kwang Nienhuys

Markus Gerardus Martinus Maria Van Kraaij

Anagnostis Tsiatmas

Michael Kubis

Alok Verma

Reinder Teun Plug

Olger Victor Zwier

Shu-jin Wang

Simon Philip Spencer Hastings

Victor Emanuel Calado

Erik Johan Koop

Peter Clement Paul Vanoppen

Koenraad Remi André Maria Schreel

Janneke Ravensbergen

Chien-Hung Tseng

Martinus Hubertus Maria Van Weert

Jan Hoegee

Nikhil Mehta

Dirk Karel Margaretha Broddin

Jolanda Theodora Josephina Schmetz-Schagen

Amanda Elizabeth Anderson

S M Masudur Rahman Al Arif

Disclosed is a method of measuring a target on a substrate comprising: illuminating a target with measurement radiation comprising at least a first wavelength, collecting the resultant scattered radiation within a collection numerical aperture; and determining a parameter of interest from said scattered radiation. The target comprises a mediator periodic structure and at least a first target periodic structure each in a respective different layer on the substrate, wherein a pitch of at least the mediator periodic structure is below a single diffraction limit defined by the collection numerical aperture and a wavelength of said measurement radiation, such that said scattered radiation comprises double diffracted radiation, said double diffracted radiation comprising radiation having undergone two sequential same-order diffractions of opposite sign.

Substrate comprising a target arrangement, and associated at least one patterning device, lithographic method and metrology method

Disclosed is a method for a metrology measurement on an area of a substrate comprising at least a portion of a target structure. The method comprises receiving a radiation information representing a portion of radiation scattered by the are, and using a filter in a Fourier domain for removing or suppressing at least a portion of the received radiation information that does not relate to radiation that has been scattered by the target structure for obtaining a filtered radiation information for the metrology measurement, wherein characteristics of the filter are based on target information about the target structure.

Method for filtering an image and associated metrology apparatus

Described is a metrology system for determining a characteristic of interest relating to at least one structure on a substrate, and associated method. The metrology system comprises a processor being configured to computationally determine phase and amplitude information from a detected characteristic of scattered radiation having been reflected or scattered by the at least one structure as a result of illumination of said at least one structure with illumination radiation in a measurement acquisition, and use the determined phase and amplitude to determine the characteristic of interest.

Metrology system and method for determining a characteristic of one or more structures on a substrate

Disclosed is a substrate and associated patterning device. The substrate comprises at least one target arrangement suitable for metrology of a lithographic process, the target arrangement comprising at least one pair of similar target regions which are arranged such that the target arrangement is, or at least the target regions for measurement in a single direction together are, centrosymmetric. A metrology method is also disclosed for measuring the substrate. A metrology method is also disclosed comprising which comprises measuring such a target arrangement and determining a value for a parameter of interest from the scattered radiation, while correcting for distortion of the metrology apparatus used.

A technique of measuring a parameter of a patterning process is disclosed. In one arrangement, a target, formed by the patterning process, is illuminated. A sub-order diffraction component of radiation scattered from the target is detected and used to determine the parameter of the patterning process.

Method of measuring a parameter of a patterning process, metrology apparatus, target

The disclosure relates to measuring a parameter of a lithographic process and a metrology apparatus. In one arrangement, radiation from a radiation source is modified and used to illuminate a target formed on a substrate using the lithographic process. Radiation scattered from a target is detected and analyzing to determine the parameter. The modification of the radiation comprises modifying a wavelength spectrum of the radiation to have a local minimum between a global maximum and a local maximum, wherein the power spectral density of the radiation at the local minimum is less than 20% of the power spectral density of the radiation at the global maximum and the power spectral density of the radiation at the local maximum is at least 50% of the power spectral density of the radiation at the global maximum.

Method of measuring a parameter of a lithographic process, metrology apparatus

An inspection apparatus, method, and system are described herein. An example inspection apparatus includes an optical system and an imaging system. The optical system may be configured to output an illumination beam incident on a target including one or more features, the illumination beam polarized with a first polarization when incident on the target. The imaging system may be configured to obtain intensity data representing at least a portion of the illumination beam scattered by the one or more features, where the portion of the illumination beam has a second polarization orthogonal to the first polarization. The inspection apparatus may be further configured to generate image data representing an image of each of the feature(s) based on the intensity data, and determine a measurement of a parameter of interest associated with the feature(s) based on an amount of the portion of the illumination beam having the second polarization.

Method and apparatus for measuring a parameter of interest using image plane detection techniques

Metrology apparatus and methods for measuring a structure formed on a substrate by a lithographic process are disclosed. In one arrangement an optical system illuminates the structure with radiation and detects radiation scattered by the structure. The optical system comprises a first dispersive element. The first dispersive element spectrally disperses scattered radiation exclusively from a first portion of a pupil plane field distribution along a first dispersion direction. A second dispersive element, separated from the first dispersive element, spectrally disperses scattered radiation exclusively from a second portion of the pupil plane field distribution, different from the first portion of the pupil plane field distribution, along a second dispersion direction.

Metrology apparatus, lithographic system, and method of measuring a structure

An inspection apparatus, including: an objective configured to receive diffracted radiation from a metrology target having positive and negative diffraction order radiation; an optical element configured to separate the diffracted radiation into portions separately corresponding to each of a plurality of different values or types of one or more radiation characteristics and separately corresponding to the positive and negative diffraction orders; and a detector system configured to separately and simultaneously measure the portions.

Metrology method and device

An optical inspection apparatus, including: an optical metrology tool configured to measure structures, the optical metrology tool including: an electromagnetic (EM) radiation source configured to direct a beam of EM radiation along an EM radiation path; and an adaptive optical system disposed in a portion of the EM radiation path and configured to adjust a shape of a wave front of the beam of EM radiation, the adaptive optical system including: a first aspherical optical element; a second aspherical optical element adjacent the first aspherical optical element; and an actuator configured to cause relative movement between the first optical element and the second optical element in a direction different from a beam axis of the portion of the EM radiation path.

Variable corrector of a wave front

Disclosed is a method of mitigating for a process dependent stray light artifact on a measurement a structure. The method comprises obtaining a calibration scaling factor for the process dependent stray light artifact based on a reference angle resolved measurement and target angle resolved measurement, and a correction of an image with the obtained calibration scaling factor.

Metrology method and apparatus, computer program and lithographic system

A radiation receiving system for an inspection apparatus, used to perform measurements on target structures on lithographic substrates as part of a lithographic process, comprises a spectrometer with a number of inputs. The radiation receiving system comprises: a plurality of inputs, each input being arranged to provide radiation from a target structure; a first optical element operable to receive radiation from each of the plurality of inputs; a second optical element operable to receive radiation from the first optical element and to scatter the radiation; and a third optical element operable to direct the scattered radiation onto a detector. The second optical element may for example be a reflective diffraction grating that diffracts incoming radiation into an output radiation spectrum.

Radiation receiving system

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Nuth, Netherlands

Armand Eugene Albert Koolen