Patent ID: 8582078

Claim:
A method of monitoring the state of a reticle comprising: providing a reticle having a device exposure region with opaque regions and transparent regions; providing said reticle in an imaging tool; defining a number of different image fields across said device exposure region; determining average baseline energy transmissions for each of said number of different image fields; transmitting energy from an energy source through said device exposure region; using one or more detectors detecting said transmitted energy within all of said number of different image fields at a single testing interval; transmitting said transmitted energy data to a system control; generating within said system control a number of average energy transmission profiles of said detected energy for each said number of different image fields by said system control comparing said average energy transmissions of each of said number of different image fields to their corresponding said average baseline energy transmissions; predefining an allowable energy transmission threshold range at said single testing interval; identifying a state of said reticle by said system control determining whether any of said number of average energy transmission profiles of all said number of different image fields fall outside of said allowable energy transmission threshold range at said single testing interval; performing an action based on said state of said reticle.