Patent ID: 7595869

Claim:
A method of optimizing the design of an optical metrology system, the optical metrology system measuring structures on a workpiece, the optical metrology system configured to meet a plurality of design goals, the method comprising: determining a range of capabilities of the optical metrology system; determining primary components of the optical metrology system that have substantial impact to one or more of a plurality of design goals; developing an initial design of the optical metrology system using selected primary components based on a selected plurality of design goals; developing a prototype of the optical metrology system; collecting measured design goal data for the selected plurality of design goals using the optical metrology system prototype; and if the plurality of measured design goal s derived from the collected measured design goal data do not match the plurality of set design goals: modifying the initial design of the optical metrology system; and iterating the developing the prototype of the optical metrology system, collecting measured design goal data, performing a new comparison of new measured plurality of design goals to the set plurality of design goals and modifying the initial design until there is a match of the new measured design goals to the set plurality of design goals by a processor.