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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 8187778 | Method for correcting a position error of lithography apparatus A method for correcting a position error of a lithography apparatus comprises inputting position data of exposure pattern, irradiating laser light onto a position reference mask from a position measurement laser system, calculating actual position data of the laser ... | 05/29/2012 |
| 8105736 | Method and system for overlay correction during photolithography A method of performing overlay error correction includes forming a photoresist layer over a substrate and exposing a first set of apertures to incident radiation. The method also includes determining an overlay error associated with the first set of apertures and de... | 01/31/2012 |
| 8092961 | Position aligning apparatus, position aligning method, and semiconductor device manufacturing method A position aligning apparatus performs position alignment of a pattern in a current process of a pattern exposure process by using a pattern formed before the current process. The position aligning apparatus includes: a correction calculating section configured to c... | 01/10/2012 |
| 8088539 | Exposure aligning method and exposure apparatus In an exposure aligning method, a first shift amount indicating a shift amount of a lower layer pattern of an exposure target substrate from an origin point position is determined and a second shift amount indicating a shift amount of the lower layer pattern in at l... | 01/03/2012 |
| 8039181 | Method and system for reducing overlay errors in semiconductor volume production using a mixed tool scenario By taking into consideration the combination of the substrate holders in various lithography tools used during the imaging to two subsequent device layers, enhanced alignment accuracy may be accomplished. Furthermore, restrictive tool dedications for critical lithog... | 10/18/2011 |
| 8029953 | Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method with double exposure overlay control A device manufacturing method includes a transfer of a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate. The device manufacturing method further includes transferring a pattern of a main mark to a base layer for forming an alignment mark; depositing a pattern recei... | 10/04/2011 |
| 8029952 | Magnetic recording medium, method for manufacturing the same, and magnetic recording/reproducing apparatus There is provided a method for fabricating a magnetic recording medium that provides high throughput, low manufacturing cost, and no degradation in accuracy in pattern size in fine pattern formation. A resist layer is formed on a substrate or cutting work layer. The... | 10/04/2011 |
| 7935464 | System and method for self-aligned dual patterning A system and a method for self-aligned dual patterning are described. The system includes a platform for supporting a plurality of process chambers. An etch process chamber coupled to the platform. An ultra-violet radiation photo-resist curing process chamber is als... | 05/03/2011 |
| 7892712 | Exposure method An exposure method suitable for a photolithography process is described. First, a wafer with a group of alignment marks formed thereon is provided. A first alignment step is conducted by using the group of the alignment marks on the wafer to obtain a first calibrati... | 02/22/2011 |
| 7883823 | Photomask and method for manufacturing a semiconductor device using the photomask A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device that includes: a first exposing step using a photomask in a first area of a semiconductor substrate; and a second exposing step using the photomask in a second area adjacent to the first area of the semiconductor subs... | 02/08/2011 |
| 7879515 | Method to control semiconductor device overlay using post etch image metrology A method of determining positioning error between lithographically produced integrated circuit patterns on at least two different lithographic levels of a semiconductor wafer comprising. The method includes exposing, developing and etching one or more lithographic l... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7879514 | Lithographic method and patterning device A lithographic method includes patterning a beam of radiation with a patterning device. The patterning device includes at least two image patterning portions and at least two metrology mark patterning portions. The method also includes projecting at least two image ... | 02/01/2011 |
| 7875409 | Method of manufacturing semiconductor device, mask and semiconductor device A method of manufacturing a semiconductor device answerable to refinement of circuits by correctly connecting adjacent small patterns with each other with excellent reproducibility in connective exposure and a semiconductor device manufactured by this method are pro... | 01/25/2011 |
| 7871745 | Exposure method The invention provides an exposure method for manufacturing a device. The method includes providing a wafer having several exposure regions with a photoresist layer covering thereon. A feedback parameter map with several exposure-region feedback parameter sets respe... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7871744 | Near-field exposure apparatus and near-field exposure method A near-field exposure apparatus includes a near-field exposure mask and a mechanism places a substrate, to be exposed, opposed to the near-field exposure mask. A mechanism performs relative alignment of the near-field exposure mask and the substrate to be exposed. A... | 01/18/2011 |
| 7846624 | Systems and methods for determination of focus and telecentricity, amelioration of metrology induced effects and application to determination of precision bossung curves An apparatus and method for the simultaneous determination of focus and source boresighting error for photolithographic steppers and scanners is described. A reticle containing custom arrays of box-in-box test structures specifically designed for performing source o... | 12/07/2010 |
| 7842442 | Method and system for reducing overlay errors within exposure fields by APC control strategies By taking into consideration tool-specific distortion signatures and reticle-specific placement characteristics in an alignment control system, the control quality of sophisticated APC strategies may be significantly enhanced. Respective correction data may be estab... | 11/30/2010 |
| 7807322 | Photomask for double exposure and double exposure method using the same A photomask for double exposure, and a double exposure method using the same are disclosed. The photomask for double exposure comprises a mask substrate divided into first and second regions equally arranged to upper and lower sides on different sides, respectively,... | 10/05/2010 |
| 7771905 | Method and program for calculating exposure dose and focus position in exposure apparatus, and device manufacturing method A method for calculating an offset of an exposure dose and a focus position in an exposure apparatus that exposes a substrate via an original includes the steps of obtaining information of a shape of a pattern formed on the substrate using the exposure apparatus, ca... | 08/10/2010 |
| 7763403 | Method and system for overlay control using dual metrology sampling A system and method are provided for determining an overlay of a first layer N−1 and a second layer N that are positioned one over the other on a substrate. The first layer includes a first overlay portion. The second layer includes a first complementary overlay p... | 07/27/2010 |
| 7759029 | Substrate provided with an alignment mark in a substantially transmissive process layer, mask for exposing said mark, device manufacturing method, and device manufactured thereby A substrate provided with an alignment mark in a substantially transmissive process layer overlying the substrate, said mark comprising high reflectance areas for reflecting radiation of an alignment beam of radiation, and low reflectance areas for reflecting less r... | 07/20/2010 |
| 7745078 | Method and system for manufacturing a reticle using character projection lithography A method for manufacturing a surface, the surface having a multiplicity of slightly different patterns, is disclosed with the method comprising the steps of designing a stencil mask having a set of characters for forming the patterns on the surface and reducing shot... | 06/29/2010 |
| 7718326 | Seamless stitching of patterns formed by interference lithography This invention addresses the scalability problem of periodic “nanostructured” surface treatments such as those formed by interference lithography. A novel but simple method is described that achieves seamless stitching of nanostructure surface textures at the pa... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7718327 | Overlay management method and apparatus, processing apparatus, measurement apparatus and exposure apparatus, device manufacturing system and device manufacturing method, and program and information recording medium In repeated processes (steps 201 to 213) of lot processing, an analytical apparatus detects abnormality of overlay, that is, deterioration of overlay accuracy in step 211 and optimizes an apparatus parameter of an exposure apparatus so that the ... | 05/18/2010 |
| 7704653 | Method of data encoding, compression, and transmission enabling maskless lithography A method and tool for conducting charged-particle beam direct write lithography is disclosed. A disclosed method involves condensing an initial design file down to a set of profiles and a pattern of relative locations to form a formatted pattern file. The formatted ... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7704652 | Exposure operation evaluation method for exposure apparatus and manufacturing method for semiconductor device An exposure operation evaluation method for an exposure apparatus for arranging a predetermined number of at least one evaluation pattern in an overlapping area and printing the at least one evaluation pattern on a substrate when performing a plurality of exposures ... | 04/27/2010 |
| 7691549 | Multiple exposure lithography technique and method A method for forming high resolution patterns on a substrate surface is disclosed. A photolithographic patterning tool is loaded with a substrate having a photoimagable layer. Multiple exposures to using interference patterns and developments are performed on the ph... | 04/06/2010 |
| 7687209 | Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method with double exposure overlay control A device manufacturing method includes a transfer of a pattern from a patterning device onto a substrate. The device manufacturing method further includes transferring a pattern of a main mark to a base layer for forming an alignment mark; depositing a pattern recei... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7687210 | Space tolerance with stitching A method for manufacturing a stitched space in a semiconductor circuit implements a photolithographic process for printing one or more image fields on a wafer surface, each image field corresponding to a portion of a circuit or device and including a space that is t... | 03/30/2010 |
| 7678516 | Test structures and methods for monitoring or controlling a semiconductor fabrication process Various test structures and methods for monitoring or controlling a semiconductor fabrication process are provided. One test structure formed on a wafer as a monitor for a lithography process includes a bright field target that includes first grating structures. The... | 03/16/2010 |
| 7666559 | Structure and method for determining an overlay accuracy An enhanced technique for determination of an alignment accuracy involves an overlay target assembly which comprises at least two targets, each target having a first sub-structure of a first layer and a second sub-structure of a second layer, wherein, when the first... | 02/23/2010 |
| 7655367 | Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method A method and apparatus make use of data representing changes in wavelength of a radiation source to provide control of focal plane position or to provide correction of sensor data. In the first aspect, the wavelength variation data is provided to control systems tha... | 02/02/2010 |
| 7651825 | Method and system for overlay control using dual metrology sampling A system and method are provided for determining an overlay of a first layer N-1 and a second layer N that are positioned one over the other on a substrate. The first layer includes a first overlay portion. The second layer includes a first complementary over... | 01/26/2010 |
| 7645546 | Method for determining an overlay correlation set The invention is directed to a method for determining an overlay correlation set between two successive patterned material layers on a substrate. The method comprises steps of providing a first material layer having a first overlay mark formed therein over the subst... | 01/12/2010 |
| 7625679 | Method of aligning a particle-beam-generated pattern to a pattern on a pre-patterned substrate A significant improvement in the alignment of a particle-beam-generated pattern relative to a pre-existing pattern present on a substrate has been accomplished using optical measurement to register the particle beam to the pre-existing pattern. Use of a position fid... | 12/01/2009 |
| 7592108 | Method of detecting relative position of exposure mask and object to be exposed, alignment method, and exposure method using the same A near-field exposure method including preparing a photomask for near-field exposure, having a light blocking film provided on a base material constituting a membrane portion and a support member supporting the base material, wherein a first alignment mark for rough... | 09/22/2009 |
| 7588869 | Divided exposure method for making a liquid crystal display A divided exposure method for a photolithography process is disclosed, which uses a mask. The mask for an exposer having a left and right light intensity deviation includes a substrate; a first pattern in a middle of the substrate; and second and third patterns on l... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7588868 | Method and system for reducing the impact of across-wafer variations on critical dimension measurements First and second exposures of a mask onto a wafer are performed such that the exposure field of the second exposure partially overlaps the exposure field of the first exposure. A characteristic of a set of features is determined, and a value of a parameter of an opt... | 09/15/2009 |
| 7556899 | System for controlling an overlay, method for controlling overlay, and method for manufacturing a semiconductor device A system for controlling an overlay includes a processing data receiving module receiving a processing data string describing a name of an exposure process for a target layer and an original control set value of overlays between the target layer and underlying layer... | 07/07/2009 |
| 7556898 | Overlay target for polarized light lithography A target and method for use in polarized light lithography. A preferred embodiment comprises a first structure located on a reference layer, wherein the first structure is visible through a second layer, and a second structure located on the second layer, wherein th... | 07/07/2009 |
