Lithographic System, Lithographic Method And Device Manufacturing Method

A lithographic system comprising:

• a lithographic apparatus comprising an illumination optical system arranged to illuminate a pattern and a projection optical system arranged to project an image of the pattern on to a substrate,
• an inspection apparatus comprising a measurement system arranged to obtain a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from said pattern and a computational arrangement adapted to represent the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function and to correlate the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• a control arrangement being adapted to use the system identification to control a lithographic process performed by said lithographic apparatus.

A lithographic cell comprising:

• a coater arranged to coat substrates with a radiation sensitive layer;
• a lithographic apparatus arranged to expose images onto the radiation sensitive layer of substrates coated by the coater;
• a developer arranged to develop images exposed by the lithographic apparatus;
• and an inspection apparatus comprising:
• a measurement system arranged to direct a beam of radiation onto a target pattern on a substrate and to obtain a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from said pattern;
• a computational arrangement adapted to represent the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function and to correlate the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• a control arrangement adapted to use the system identification to control a lithographic process performed by said lithographic apparatus.

A device manufacturing method comprising:

• using a lithographic apparatus to form a pattern on a substrate;
• obtaining a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from said pattern;
• representing the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function;
• correlating the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• using the system identification to control a lithographic process performed by the lithographic apparatus.

A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

• obtaining a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from a target on a substrate;
• representing representation of the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function;
• correlating the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• using the system identification to control a lithographic process.

A method comprising:

• obtaining a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from a target on a substrate;
• using a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function to represent the representation of the pupil plane;
• correlating the moment function to a lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• using the system identification to control a lithographic process.

A computer readable medium having stored thereon computer executable instructions that, if executed by a computing device, cause the computing device to perform a method comprising:

• obtaining a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from a target on a substrate;
• using a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function to represent the representation of the pupil plane;
• correlating the moment function to a lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• using the system identification to control a lithographic process.

A lithographic system comprising:

• a lithographic apparatus;
• an inspection apparatus;
• and
• a control arrangement,
• the lithographic apparatus comprising:
• an illumination optical system arranged to illuminate a pattern;
• and
• a projection optical system arranged to project an image of the pattern on to a substrate,
• the inspection apparatus comprising:
• a measurement system arranged to obtain a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from said pattern;
• and
• a computational arrangement adapted to represent the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function and to correlate the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification, and
• the control arrangement being adapted to use the system identification to control a lithographic process performed by said lithographic apparatus.

A lithographic cell comprising:

• a coater arranged to coat substrates with a radiation sensitive layer;
• a lithographic apparatus arranged to expose images onto the radiation sensitive layer of substrates coated by the coater;
• a developer arranged to develop images exposed by the lithographic apparatus;
• and
• an inspection apparatus, the inspection apparatus comprising:
• a measurement system arranged to direct a beam of radiation onto a target pattern on a substrate and to obtain a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from said pattern;
• a computational arrangement adapted to represent the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function and to correlate the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• a control arrangement adapted to use the system identification to control a lithographic process performed by said lithographic apparatus.

A device manufacturing method comprising:

• using a lithographic apparatus to form a pattern on a substrate;
• obtaining a representation of a pupil plane representative of radiation scattered from said pattern;
• representing the pupil plane by a moment function calculated from at least one orthogonal basis function;
• correlating the moment function to at least one lithographic feature parameter to build a lithographic system identification;
• and
• using the system identification to control a lithographic process performed by the lithographic apparatus.