Methods are provided for deriving a partially continuous dependency of
metrology metric(s) on
recipe parameter(s), analyzing the derived dependency, determining a
metrology recipe according to the analysis, and conducting
metrology measurement(s) according to the determined
recipe. The dependency may be analyzed in form of a landscape such as a sensitivity landscape in which regions of low sensitivity and / or points or contours of low or zero inaccuracy are detected, analytically, numerically or experimentally, and used to configure parameters of measurement, hardware and targets to achieve high measurement accuracy.
Process variation is analyzed in terms of its effects on the sensitivity landscape, and these effects are used to characterize the
process variation further, to optimize the measurements and make the metrology both more robust to inaccuracy sources and more flexible with respect to different targets on the
wafer and available measurement conditions.