Optically Compensated Unidirectional Reticle Bender

A method of manufacturing comprising:

• mapping a topology of a substrate;
• bending a patterning device in a manner related to the mapped topology of the substrate;
• directing a radiation beam onto the patterning device;
• imparting a portion of the pattern to the radiation beam;
• and
• projecting the radiation beam from the patterning device onto the substrate.

A computer readable media containing program instructions, which when executed by a processor-based control system causes the system to control a lithographic apparatus in accordance with a method comprising:

• mapping a topology of a substrate;
• bending a patterning device of the lithographic apparatus with a bender of the lithographic apparatus in a manner related to the mapped topology of the substrate;
• directing a radiation beam onto the patterning device;
• and
• projecting the radiation beam from the patterning device onto the substrate with a projection system of the lithographic apparatus.

The computer readable media according to claim 19, the program instructions further comprising:

• halting the radiation beam;
• scanning a support structure of the lithographic apparatus relative to the substrate to a field of the substrate;
• mapping a topology of the field;
• and
• bending the patterning device in response to the mapped topology of the field;
• wherein the support structure is configured to move in a scan direction and bending occurs about an axis substantially parallel to the scan direction;
• and
• wherein the bending is done in a first direction and the projection system includes an optical compensating element configured to bend a wavefront of the beam in a second direction opposite to the first direction.