Method and apparatus for inspection and metrology

1. A method comprising:

evaluating, by a hardware computer system and with respect to a parameter representing remaining uncertainty of a mathematical model fitting measured data, one or more mathematical models for fitting measured data and a plurality of measurement sampling schemes for measuring data, each measurement sampling scheme having a different set of measurement locations, against measurement data across a physical substrate having one or more structures formed thereon;

identifying one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes, for which the parameter crosses a threshold; and

outputting electronic data, based on the identified one or more mathematical models and/or identified one or more measurement sampling schemes, for display to enable user selection and/or configuration of one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes and/or for enabling configuration and/or control of a physical machine and/or physical manufacturing or measurement process.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising evaluating the one or more mathematical models and plurality of measurement sampling schemes with respect to remaining systematic variation between measured data and a mathematical model fitting measured data.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein remaining systematic variation comprises a distance between an average of measured data over multiple substrates to the mathematical model.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the remaining systematic variation further accounts for a statistical precision of the average.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the remaining uncertainty comprises an estimate of uncertainty of the fitted mathematical model to the measured data.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the identifying comprises providing a ranking of evaluated one or more mathematical models for fitting measured data and/or of evaluated one or more measurement sampling schemes.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the measurement data comprises one or more selected from: overlay data, overlay error data, alignment data, critical dimension data, focus data and/or critical dimension uniformity data.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising enabling a user to select a plurality of mathematical models and/or a plurality of sampling schemes for evaluation.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the one or more sampling schemes comprises one or more selected from: a number of sample points per substrate, a layout of sample points, and/or a number of substrates per lot.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving measured across-substrate measurement data for a plurality of substrates of each lot of a plurality of lots, where the measurement data is modeled with the identified one or more mathematical models and/or measured with the identified one or more measurement sampling schemes;

performing a simulation that involves applying a correction, based on data derived from the measured data for a particular subset of lots of the plurality of lots, to obtain simulated measurement data for a set of subsequent lots; and

evaluating the simulated measurement data for the set of subsequent lots against the measured data for the set of subsequent lots.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the measurement data is obtained using a particular measurement recipe and a particular measurement sampling scheme and the correction is determined and/or the simulation is performed using a particular mathematical model for the measurement data.

12. The method of claim 10 , further comprising evaluating the measurement data for the plurality of substrates of the particular lot to obtain values of parameters of a mathematical model for the measurement data, wherein the data derived from the measured data comprises the values of the parameters.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the correction comprises a change of a parameter of a lithographic apparatus used to expose the substrates.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising determining a key performance indicator and/or a limit for a key performance indicator for the evaluation of the simulated measurement data against the measured data.

15. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine-readable instructions therein, the instructions, upon execution by a processor system, configured to cause the processor system to at least:

evaluate, with respect to a parameter representing remaining uncertainty of a mathematical model fitting measured data, one or more mathematical models for fitting measured data and a plurality of measurement sampling schemes for measuring data, each measurement sampling scheme having a different set of measurement locations, against measurement data across a physical substrate having one or more structures formed thereon;

identify one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes, for which the parameter crosses a threshold; and

output electronic data, based on the identified one or more mathematical models and/or identified one or more measurement sampling schemes, for display to enable user selection and/or configuration of one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes and/or for enabling configuration and/or control of a physical machine and/or physical manufacturing or measurement process.

16. A method comprising:

evaluating, by a hardware computer system and with respect to a first evaluation parameter and a second different evaluation parameter, one or more mathematical models for fitting measured data and one or more measurement sampling schemes for measuring data, against measurement data across a physical substrate having one or more structures formed thereon, at least one of the evaluation parameters represents a model uncertainty and/or a variation between modeled and measured data;

identifying one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes, for which the first and second evaluation parameters cross a threshold; and

outputting electronic data, based on the identified one or more mathematical models and/or identified one or more measurement sampling schemes, for display to enable user selection and/or configuration of one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes and/or for enabling configuration and/or control of a physical machine and/or physical manufacturing or measurement process.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first or second evaluation parameter comprises remaining systematic variation between measured data and a mathematical model for fitting the measured data.

18. The method of claim 16 , wherein the first or second evaluation parameter comprises a parameter representing remaining uncertainty of a mathematical model fitting measured data.

19. The method of claim 16 , wherein the identifying comprises providing a ranking of evaluated one or more mathematical models for fitting measured data and/or of evaluated one or more measurement sampling schemes.

20. The method of claim 16 , wherein the measurement data comprises one or more selected from: overlay data, overlay error data, alignment data, critical dimension data, focus data and/or critical dimension uniformity data.

21. A non-transitory computer program product comprising machine-readable instructions therein, the instructions, upon execution by a processor system, configured to cause the processor system to at least:

evaluate, with respect to a first evaluation parameter and a second different evaluation parameter, one or more mathematical models for fitting measured data and one or more measurement sampling schemes for measuring data, against measurement data across a physical substrate having one or more structures formed thereon, at least one of the evaluation parameters represents a model uncertainty and/or a variation between modeled and measured data;

identify one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes, for which the first and second evaluation parameters cross a threshold; and

output electronic data, based on the identified one or more mathematical models and/or identified one or more measurement sampling schemes, for display to enable user selection and/or configuration of one or more mathematical models and/or one or more measurement sampling schemes and/or for enabling configuration and/or control of a physical machine and/or physical manufacturing or measurement process.