Method and apparatus for evaluating an unknown effect of defects of an element of a photolithography process

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for determining at least one unknown effect of defects of an element of a photolithography process. The method comprises the steps of: (a) providing a model of machine learning for a relationship between an image, design data associated with the image and at least one effect of the defects of the element of the photolithography process arising from the image; (b) training the model of machine learning using a multiplicity of images used for training purposes, design data associated with the images used for training purposes and corresponding effects of the defects; and (c) determining the at least one unknown effect of the defects by applying the trained model to a measured image and the design data associated with the measured image.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.