Method for optical inspection and lithography

A process for optically characterizing a patterned surface, the process comprising:

• immersing the patterned surface in a supercritical fluid that is nearly completely chemically inactive with respect to said patterned surface;
• illuminating the patterned surface with optical energy that passes through the supercritical fluid, the optical energy selected from the group consisting of:
• visible and ultraviolet wavelengths;
• collecting onto a detection means scattered optical energy that has been transmitted through the supercritical fluid after scattering from the patterned surface;
• and
• generating a signal in the detection means from the collected, scattered optical energy to enable a characterization of the patterned surface.

A process for optically projecting an image onto a photoresist covered surface, the process using a transmission mask defining the image to be projected and a system of lenses and mirrors for forming an image of the transmission mask, the process comprising:

• immersing the photoresist covered surface in a supercritical fluid that is nearly completely chemically inactive with respect to said photoresist covered surface;
• aligning the photoresist covered surface in the supercritical fluid so that the image of the transmission mask produced by the system of lenses is aligned with a predetermined orientation of the photoresist covered surface;
• illuminating the mask with optical energy comprising optical radiation selected from the group consisting of visible and ultraviolet wavelengths;
• and
• projecting optical energy that has passed through the mask with the system of lenses and mirrors through the supercritical fluid and onto the photoresist covered surface.