Method for controlling a manufacturing apparatus and associated apparatuses

A method of predicting the dominant failure mode and/or the failure rate of a plurality of features formed on a substrate, and an associated inspection apparatus. The method may include determining a placement metric for each feature, the placement metric including a measure of whether the feature is in an expected position, and comparing a distribution of the placement metric to a reference (e.g., Gaussian) distribution. The placement metric may include a boundary metric for a plurality of boundary points on a boundary defining each feature, the boundary metric including a measure of whether a boundary point is in an expected position. The dominant failure mode and/or the failure rate of the plurality of features is predicted from the comparison.