Patent ID: 7161660

Claim:
A method for managing a photolithography process, comprising: transmitting illuminating light through a reticle to expose a plurality of shot areas of a semiconductor substrate; calculating an accumulated dosage of the illuminating light irradiated on the plurality shot areas of the semiconductor substrate; comparing the calculated accumulated dosage with a reference dosage; and suspending the photolithography process if the calculated accumulated dosage is greater than or equal to the reference dosage, wherein the accumulated dosage D is determined in accordance with the following equation: D=E×Sr×Nw wherein, E is an amount of energy of the illuminating light irradiated onto the reticle with respect to one shot area on the semiconductor substrate, Sr is a number of shot areas on the semiconductor substrate, and Nw is a number of semiconductor substrates for which the reticle has been used in the exposing process.