A marker structure on a substrate includes line elements and trench elements, the line elements and trench elements each having a length in a first direction and being arranged in an alternating repetitive sequence in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction, the alternating repetitive sequence having a sequence length, the marker structure having at least one pitch value, the at least one pitch value being the sum of a line width of one line element and a trench width of one trench element. A width of the line elements varies over the sequence length of the marker structure between a minimum line width value and a maximum line width value, while a width of the trench elements likewise varies over the sequence length of the marker structure between a minimum trench width value and a maximum trench width value. A duty cycle of a pair of a line element and an adjacent trench element is substantially constant over the sequence length of the marker structure. Thus, the pitch value varies from a minimum pitch value to a maximum pitch value over the sequence length.