Method for compensating for nonuniform etch profiles

An apparatus comprising a plurality of nonidentical structures, each of said structures being made up of at least one element, said at least one element of each of said plurality of nonidentical structures being intentionally different so as to make said nonidentical structures nonidentical by design, said nonidentical structures having at least one parameter of interest that is identical and is a function of an attribute of said element which makes said elements intentionally different.

A method for manufacturing an array of structures over a substrate, so that a parameter of interest for each of said structures varies over said substrate in accordance with a prescribed function, said prescribed function being different than any processing profile of materials used in any step of manufacturing said structure, the method comprising the steps of:

• depositing an element defining overlay on said substrate for each structure in an array of structures thereby forming an array of element defining overlays, wherein at least one of said element defining overlays is intentionally not in accordance with said prescribed function given the position on said substrate of said at least one of said element defining overlays should a uniform etch rate be employed;
• and
• processing said substrate with said element defining overlays thereon so that a parameter of interest of each of said elements as formed after said processing varies in accordance with said prescribed function, said parameter of interest being a function of the attribute of said element defining overlay that makes said at least one element defining overlay intentionally not in accordance with said prescribed function.

An apparatus comprising a plurality of nonidentical structures on a substrate each having a parameter of interest, said parameter of interest varying over said substrate in accordance with prescribed function which is different than any processing profile of materials used in any step of manufacturing said structure, each of said structures being made up of at least one element, said at least one element of each of said plurality of nonidentical structures being intentionally different so as to make said nonidentical structures nonidentical by design, said at least one parameter of interest being a function of an attribute of said element which makes said structures intentionally different.