A method for facilitating an ODP measurement of a semiconductor wafer. The
method includes obtaining real time wafer characteristic data for a
measurement site on said wafer and detecting a measured diffraction
signal from a structure within the measurement site of the wafer. The
measured diffraction signal is matched with a simulated diffraction
signal stored in a wafer characteristic dependent profile library. A
hypothetical profile structure associated with the simulated diffraction
signal in the wafer characteristic dependent profile library is then
identified. The real time wafer characteristic data is used to facilitate
at least one of the matching and identifying.