Patent ID: 8780325

Claim:
A method of at least partially compensating for deviation in a property of a pattern feature to be applied to a substrate using a lithographic apparatus, the method comprising: obtaining information related to a deviation in an intended or desired value of a property of at least a first pattern feature of a pattern to be applied to a substrate using a lithographic apparatus, wherein an intended or desired value of the property of at least a second pattern feature of the pattern is different than that of at least the first pattern feature; determining a desired phase change to be applied to at least a portion of a patterned radiation beam that is to be used to apply at least the first pattern feature to the substrate, and which would at least partially compensate for the deviation in the property of at least the first pattern feature, the determination of the desired phase change comprising determining a desired configuration of a phase modulation element; and implementing the desired phase change to at least the portion of the patterned radiation beam when applying the pattern, comprising at least the first pattern feature and the second pattern feature, to the substrate to at least partially compensate for the deviation in the property of at least the first pattern feature while making substantially no change to the value of the property of at least the second feature or compensating for a deviation in the intended or desired value of the property of at least the second feature, the implementation of the desired phase change comprising illuminating the phase modulation element with the at least a portion of the patterned radiation beam when the phase modulation element is in the desired configuration.