DMD-based adaptive lithography system for real-time substrate deformation compensation

This article presents a novel DMD-based adaptive lithography system enabling real-time compensation for substrate deformation during patterning. The system integrates conventional DMD lithography with optical measurement capabilities to quantify substrate deformation and dynamically adjust patterns based on upstream measurements. To achieve high-precision patterning while maintaining real-time operation, we implement oblique scanning for enhanced precision and optimized image processing with parallel computing techniques. Experimental results demonstrate effective compensation for substantial substrate deformations, reducing positional error from ±76.7 μm (∼3σ) to registration precision of ±3.8 μm and stitching precision of ±2.5 μm. This real-time deformation compensation addresses critical challenges in roll-to-roll manufacturing of flexible electronics and wafer-level packaging, where substrate deformation traditionally limits patterning accuracy. The approach enables precise pattern registration on deformable substrates without specialized stitching procedures, offering significant advantages for diverse and complex form factors in next-generation electronic devices.