Wafer with design printed outside active region and spaced by design tolerance of reticle blind

摘要

A printed wafer. A design is printed within a peripheral portion of the wafer. The peripheral portion of the wafer is between an outer boundary of an active portion of the wafer and an outer boundary of the wafer. The design may be a copy of a portion of a pattern that exists on a reticle of an exposure apparatus. The pattern may includes pattern elements such that adjacent pattern elements are separated by a spacing of about a sum of a first design tolerance (based on how accurately a reticle blind can be positioned within the exposure apparatus) and a second design tolerance (based on how sharply an edge of the reticle blind can be focused on the wafer by a lens). The design may visible to a naked eye unaided with no portion of the printed design within the active portion of the wafer.