Abstract: The present invention provides a cyclic dione polymer, which is a homopolymer or a copolymer of a cyclic dione monomer selected from those represented by formulae (I) and (II) wherein A and B may be the same or different and are independently selected from the group consisting of halogen, hydrogen, C3-20 cyclic or pericyclic alkyl, C1-20 linear and branched alkyl, C6-20 aryl, C7-20 arylalkyl, C7-20 alkylaryl, silyl, alkylsilyl, germyl, alkylgermyl, alkoxycarbonyl, acyl, and a heterocylic group; or, A and B are linked together to form a C3-20 saturated or unsaturated cyclic hydrocarbon group or a substituted or unsubstituted heterocyclic group; C is selected from the group consisting of oxygen, sulfur, wherein each R1 is independently selected from C1-20 alkyl and phenyl.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for determining local de-focus problems on a real time basis in a wafer exposure system. The distance of a wafer from an objective lens and rotation of the wafer about two orthogonal axis at each field position is adjusted to achieve optimum focus for each field of the wafer. The rotational data is fed to a computer and analyzed to determine if any of the rotational angles or if the difference between individual rotational angle and the mean rotational angle exceed critical angles. If any of the critical angles are exceeded local de-focus will occur and the exposure system must be checked for defects. If none of the critical angles are exceeded processing continues with the next wafer. The comparison of the rotational angles to the critical angles is performed for each wafer before continuing with the next wafer so that problems are discovered on a real time basis.