Source & Mask Optimization1 (SMO) is a promising candidate to realize further reduction of k1 factor to achieve 22nm feature lithography and beyond. To make the SMO solutions feasible all imaging-related parameters should be closer to the designed parameters used in SMO process. In this paper, we discuss how we realize this in the imaging system setup on the scanner. The setup process includes freeform pupilgram generation, pupilgram adjustment and thermal aberration control. For each step the important factors are speed and accuracy.
