Patent ID: 8628712

Claim:
A method, comprising: providing an imprint lithography template having a patterning surface with at least one template feature; providing a first image of the imprint lithography template; for each field of two consecutive fields of a first substrate: imprinting a patterned layer on the first substrate using the imprint lithography template, the template subjected to a plurality of balanced forces arrayed around the perimeter of the template, providing a second image of the first substrate having at least two substrate features defined by the imprinted patterned layer, determining a placement of the template feature using the first image, determining a placement of the substrate features using the second image, determining an overlay error between the template and the first substrate using the placement of the template feature and the placement of the substrate features, the overlay error comprising a magnification, trapezoidal and orthogonal overlay error; calculating distortion {right arrow over (D)} of the template according to a relationship ∂{right arrow over (D)}(F)/∂F={[{right arrow over (O)} i+1 (x,y)−{right arrow over (O)} i (x,y)+[{right arrow over (W)} i+1 (x,y)−{right arrow over (W)} i (x,y)]}/δF i , where ∂{right arrow over (D)}(F)/∂F is determined using a Least Square Estimation, O i+1 is the overlay error associated with a second field of the two consecutive fields, O i is the overlay error associated with a first field of the two consecutive fields, W i+1 is the placement of the substrate features associated with the second field, W i is the placement of the substrate features associated with the first field, and F i are the plurality of balanced forces; varying one or more of the arrayed perimeter forces applied to the template based on the distortion of the template so as to reduce template distortion and thereby reduce the magnification, trapezoidal and orthogonal overlay error; and, imprinting a subsequent patterned layer on a field on a second substrate using the template while subjected to the varied force.