The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Jan. 12, 2016
Filed:
Jul. 20, 2011
Maurits Van Der Schaar, Eindhoven, NL;
Arie Jeffrey Den Boef, Waalre, NL;
Everhardus Cornelis Mos, Best, NL;
Andreas Fuchs, Meerbusch, DE;
Martyn John Coogans, Eindhoven, NL;
Hendrik Jan Hidde Smilde, Veldhoven, NL;
Maurits Van Der Schaar, Eindhoven, NL;
Arie Jeffrey Den Boef, Waalre, NL;
Everhardus Cornelis Mos, Best, NL;
Andreas Fuchs, Meerbusch, DE;
Martyn John Coogans, Eindhoven, NL;
Hendrik Jan Hidde Smilde, Veldhoven, NL;
ASML Netherlands B.V., Veldhoven, NL;
Abstract
An inspection apparatus measures a property of a substrate including a periodic structure. An illumination system provides a beam of radiation with an illumination profile including a plurality of illuminated portions. A radiation projector projects the beam of radiation onto the substrate. A detector detects radiation scattered from the periodic structure and separately detects first order diffracted radiation and at least one higher order of diffracted radiation of each of the illuminated portions. A processor determines the property of the substrate from the detected radiation. The plurality of illuminated portions are arranged such that first order diffracted radiation arising from one or more of the illuminated portions are not overlapped by zeroth order or first order diffracted radiation arising from any other of the illuminated portions. Furthermore, the plurality of illuminated portions are arranged such that first order diffracted radiation arising from the one or more of the illuminated portions are overlapped by at least one of the higher orders of diffracted radiation arising from any other of the illuminated portions.