Method and apparatus for detecting substrate surface variations

1. A method comprising:

providing, via an optical element comprising a plurality of such optical elements arranged in an array, inspection radiation to a surface of a substrate wherein the inspection radiation is patterned such that an amplitude of a corresponding enhanced field is modulated in a manner corresponding to the patterned inspection radiation;

receiving scattered radiation resultant from an interaction between the enhanced field and the substrate surface;

detecting variations on the surface of the substrate based on the interaction between the enhanced field and the substrate surface; and

obtaining the patterned inspection radiation by providing separate beams of the inspection radiation to respective surfaces of a subset of the plurality of optical elements, the subset corresponding to a desired pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the enhanced field is an evanescent field.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

providing the inspection radiation to the surface of the substrate at an angle configured to create the evanescent field; and

positioning a surface of the optical element within a distance smaller than a wavelength of the patterned inspection radiation to the surface of the substrate.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the optical element is a solid immersion lens.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the surface of the optical element is positioned at a first distance from the substrate such that the evanescent field is generated by total internal reflection of the patterned radiation at the surface of the optical element in the absence of any significant variation on the surface of the substrate in an area of the substrate being inspected.

6. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

receiving radiation reflected by the optical element; and

detecting any changes to at least one characteristic of the received radiation, the changes being induced by the generation of a surface plasmon at the surface of the optical element.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

detecting a change in an incident angle of the inspection radiation on the substrate at which a surface plasmon is generated from a characteristic of the received radiation; and

determining the presence of a variation on the surface of the substrate based on a detection of a change in an incident angle,

wherein, the detecting the change in the incident angle of the inspection radiation on the substrate at which a surface plasmon is generated from the characteristic of the received radiation comprises determining a change in position of a drop in detected intensity of the received radiation indicative of the optical element not reflecting the inspection radiation.

8. The method of claim 3 , wherein the surface of the optical element comprises an enhancing dielectric and/or metal deposition.

9. The method of claim 3 , wherein:

the patterned inspection radiation is obtained by providing the inspection radiation to the surface of the optical element, and the optical element has a first pattern thereon operable to pattern the inspection radiation.

10. The method of claim 3 , wherein the providing comprises:

providing an input inspection radiation; and

patterning the input inspection radiation by using a patterning component comprising a first pattern to obtain the patterned inspection radiation, wherein the first pattern is focused on the surface of the optical element.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the providing comprises:

providing an input inspection radiation;

patterning the input inspection radiation by using a patterning component comprising a first pattern to obtain the patterned inspection radiation;

focusing the patterned inspection radiation on the substrate; and

using a detection arrangement to capture the scattered radiation over a range of scattering angles.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the providing comprises using an array of optical microscopy detectors, each optical microscopy detector providing the illumination radiation; and

the receiving comprises using the array of optical microscopy detectors to receive the scattered radiation from within a distance, relative to the surface of the substrate, smaller than a wavelength of the inspection radiation, thereby creating the enhanced field.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

positioning a surface of an optical element configured to provide the inspection radiation within a distance smaller than a wavelength of the patterned inspection radiation to the surface of the substrate.

14. An inspection apparatus comprising:

an illumination system operable to provide an inspection radiation, the illumination system including an optical element comprising a plurality of such optical elements arranged in an array;

patterning means configured to pattern the inspection radiation such that an amplitude of a corresponding enhanced field is modulated in a manner corresponding to the patterned inspection radiation, the patterning means include providing separate beams of the inspection radiation to respective surfaces of a subset of the plurality of optical elements, the subset corresponding to a desired pattern; and

a detector operable to detect scattered radiation caused by an interaction between the patterned enhanced field and the substrate surface.