Patent ID: 6868301

Claim:
A method for controlling the operation of an exposure tool in the fabrication of an integrated circuit on a substrate, to control registration between a preceding layer of the integrated circuit and a succeeding layer of the integrated circuit, the method comprising the steps of: forming the preceding layer, the preceding layer having an associated first alignment mark and an associated first registration mark, aligning the succeeding layer to the preceding layer using an exposure tool, the succeeding layer having an associated second alignment mark and an associated second registration mark, measuring and reporting with the exposure tool alignment information relating to relative positions of the first alignment mark associated with the preceding layer and the second alignment mark associated with the succeeding layer, performing additional process steps on the substrate, measuring and reporting with a measurement tool after the additional process steps registration information relating to relative positions of the first registration mark associated with the preceding layer and the second registration mark associated with the succeeding layer, analyzing the alignment information from the exposure tool and the registration information from the measurement tool to determine corrections to improve registration between the preceding layer and the succeeding layer, and altering the operation of the exposure tool based at least in part upon the determined corrections.