Asml Netherlands B.v.

Boris Menchtchikov

Frederik Eduard De Jong

Joost Jeroen Ottens

Koen Goorman

Jeroen Johannes Sophia Maria Mertens

Patricius Aloysius Jacobus Tinnemans

Alexander Viktorovych Padiy

Marco Koert Stavenga

Theodorus Petrus Maria Cadee

Stoyan Nihtianov

Martin Frans Pierre Smeets

Bart Leonard Peter Schoondermark

Erik Roelof Loopstra

Nicolaas Ten Kate

Johannes Henricus Wilhelmus Jacobs

Michel Riepen

Martinus Cornelis Maria Verhagen

Franciscus Johannes Joseph Janssen

Jacobus Johannus Leonardus Hendricus Verspay

Johannes Anna Quaedackers

Antonius Johannus Van Der Net

Herman Boom

Christianus Gerardus Maria De Mol

Richard Moerman

Marcel Johannus Elisabeth Hubertus Muitjens

Hakki Ergün Cekli

Maria Elisabeth Reuhman-Huisken

Aschwin Lodewijk Hendricus Johannes Van Meer

Chenxi Lin

Cyrus Emil Tabery

Simon Philip Spencer Hastings

Aschwin Lodewijk Hendricus Johannes Vermeer

Koen Jacobus Johannes Maria Zaal

Harmen Klaas Van Der Schoot

Franciscus Godefridus Casper Bijnen

Alexander Ypma

Peter Ten Berge

Willem Jurrianus Venema

Edo Maria Hulsebos

Ralph Brinkhof

Henricus Johannes Lambertus Megens

Michael James Lercel

Jeroen Pieter Starreveld

Maikel Robert Goosen

Weitian Kou

Simon Hendrik Celine Van Gorp

Willem Seine Christian Roelofs

Hadi Yagubizade

Loek Johannes Petrus Verhees

Hermen Folken Pen

Wendy Johanna Martina Van De Ven

Dag Sonntag

Ruben Alvarez Sanchez

Manouk Rijpstra

Ahmet Koray Erdamar

Wouterus Johannes Petrus Maria Maas

Antonius Johannes De Kort

Matthijs Cox

Pierre-Yves Jerome Yvan Guittet

Christiaan Theodoor De Ruiter

Tran Thanh Thuy Vu

Sudharshanan Raghunathan

Frederick Eduard De Jong

Shih-Chin Liu

Wei Duan

Maaike Van't Westeinde

Yen-Wen Lu

Scott Anderson Middlebrooks

Youping Zhang

Yi Zou

Te-Chih Huang

Jen-Shiang Wang

Yana Cheng

Davit Harutyunyan

Alexander Alexandrovich Danilin

Jay Jianhui Chen

Maxime Philippe Frederic Genin

Edwin Van Gompel

Wei Liu

Tzu-Chao Chen

Alejandro Xabier Arrizabalaga Uriarte

Mana Elisabeth Reuhman-Huisken

Alexandre Viktorovych Padiy

Jacobus Johannus Leonardus Hendricus Verspaij

A method for determining a root cause affecting yield in a process for manufacturing devices on a substrate, the method including: obtaining yield distribution data including a distribution of a yield parameter across the substrate or part thereof; obtaining sets of metrology data, each set including a spatial variation of a process parameter over the substrate or part thereof corresponding to a different layer of the substrate; comparing the yield distribution data and metrology data based on a similarity metric describing a spatial similarity between the yield distribution data and an individual set out of the sets of the metrology data; and determining a first similar set of metrology data out of the sets of metrology data, being the first set of metrology data in terms of processing order for the corresponding layers, which is determined to be similar to the yield distribution data.

Method for determining root cause affecting yield in a semiconductor manufacturing process

A method and associated computer program for predicting an electrical characteristic of a substrate subject to a process. The method includes determining a sensitivity of the electrical characteristic to a process characteristic, based on analysis of electrical metrology data including electrical characteristic measurements from previously processed substrates and of process metrology data including measurements of at least one parameter related to the process characteristic measured from the previously processed substrates; obtaining process metrology data related to the substrate describing the at least one parameter; and predicting the electrical characteristic of the substrate based on the sensitivity and the process metrology data.

Method to predict yield of a device manufacturing process

A lithographic apparatus is described having a liquid supply system configured to at least partly fill a space between a projection system of the lithographic apparatus and a substrate with liquid, a barrier member arranged to substantially contain the liquid within the space, and a heater.

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method involving a heater

A method for determining one or more optimized values of an operational parameter of a sensor system configured for measuring a property of a substrate is disclosed the method including: determining a quality parameter for a plurality of substrates; determining measurement parameters for the plurality of substrates obtained using the sensor system for a plurality of values of the operational parameter; comparing a substrate to substrate variation of the quality parameter and a substrate to substrate variation of a mapping of the measurement parameters; and determining the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter based on the comparing.

Lithographic method

A method for determining one or more optimized values of an operational parameter of a sensor system configured to measure a property of a substrate is disclosed. The method includes: determining a quality parameter for a plurality of substrates; determining measurement parameter values for the plurality of substrates using the sensor system for a plurality of values of the operational parameter; comparing a substrate to substrate variation of the quality parameter and a substrate to substrate variation of a mapping of the measurement parameter values; and determining the one or more optimized values of the operational parameter based on the comparing.

A lithographic apparatus is described having a liquid supply system configured to at least partly fill a space between a projection system of the lithographic apparatus and a substrate with liquid, a substrate temperature control system configured to provide a control signal to control a substrate temperature conditioning system based on a determined temperature; and a parameter control system configured to adjust a lithographic apparatus parameter, that is other than, or in addition to, the control signal, based on temperature information of the substrate and/or substrate table or on a measure derived from the temperature information.

A method to determine an overlay error between a first structure and a second structure, wherein the first structure and second structures are on different layers on a substrate and are imaged onto the substrate by a lithographic process, the method comprising: obtaining an apparent overlay error; obtaining a systematic error caused by a factor other than misalignment of the first and second structures; and determining the overlay error by removing the systematic error from the apparent overlay error. The method may alternatively comprise obtaining apparent characteristics of diffraction orders of diffraction by an overlapping portion of the first and second structures; obtaining corrected characteristics of the diffraction orders; determining the overlay error from the corrected characteristics; and adjusting a characteristic of the lithographic process based on the overlay error.

Metrology method and apparatus

A method of calibrating a substrate positioning system of a lithographic apparatus, the method including: exposing a pattern with the lithographic apparatus on an exposed layer on the surface of a substrate having a reference layer, wherein the pattern corresponds to a movement of the substrate by the substrate positioning system; measuring overlay data between the exposed layer and the reference layer on a plurality of positions on the substrate; transforming the overlay data from a spatial domain to a frequency domain by a discrete cosine transformation; modifying the overlay data in the frequency domain by selecting a subset of the overlay data; transforming the modified overlay data from the frequency domain back to the spatial domain by an inverse discrete cosine transformation; calibrating the substrate positioning system by using the modified overlay data in the spatial domain.

Lithographic cluster system, method for calibrating a positioning device of a lithographic apparatus

A lithographic exposure process is performed on a substrate using a scanner. The scanner comprises several subsystems. There are errors in the overlay arising from the subsystems during the exposure. The overlay errors are measured using a scatterometer to obtain overlay measurements. Modeling is performed to separately determine from the overlay measurements different subsets of estimated model parameters, for example field distortion model parameters, scan/step direction model parameters and position/deformation model parameters. Each subset is related to overlay errors arising from a corresponding specific subsystem of the lithographic apparatus. Finally, the exposure is controlled in the scanner by controlling a specific subsystem of the scanner using its corresponding subset of estimated model parameters. This results in a product wafer being exposed with a well controlled overlay.

Method and apparatus for controlling a lithographic apparatus

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method involving a heater and a temperature sensor

A method produces at least one monitor wafer for a lithographic apparatus. The monitor wafer is for use in combination with a scanning control module to periodically retrieve measurements defining a baseline from the monitor wafer thereby determining parameter drift from the baseline. In doing this, allowance and/or correction can be to be made for the drift. The baseline is determined by initially exposing the monitor wafer(s) using the lithographic apparatus, such that the initial exposure is performed while using non-standard alignment model settings optimized for accuracy, such as those used for testing the apparatus. An associated lithographic apparatus is also disclosed.

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method for measuring wafer parameters using non-standard alignment settings

A system and method for calibrating system parameters of a lithography apparatus is disclosed. The system includes a measurement device configured to measure an overlay error between patterns formed on a substrate during different exposures and a processing device configured to determine a model representative of a relationship between the overlay error and a system parameter error based on the measured overlay error. The method includes measuring an overlay error between patterns formed at different exposures with the substrate positioned at different orientations during each of the different exposures. The method further includes determining a model representative of a relationship between the overlay error and a system parameter error based on the measured overlay error and deriving a calibration correction factor from the model.

Calibration of lithographic apparatus by exposing patterns on substrate positioned at different orientations

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Eindhoven, Netherlands

Boris Menchtchikov