A deformation pattern recognition method including providing one or more deformation patterns, each deformation pattern being associated with a deformation of a substrate that may be caused by a processing device; transferring a first pattern to a substrate, the first pattern including at least N alignment marks, wherein each alignment mark is positioned at a respective predefined nominal position; processing the substrate; measuring a position of N alignment marks and determining an alignment mark displacement for the N alignment marks by comparing the respective nominal position with the respective measured position; fitting at least one deformation pattern to the measured alignment mark displacements; determining an accuracy value for each fitted deformation pattern, the accuracy value being representative of the accuracy of the corresponding fit; using the determined accuracy value, determining whether an associated deformation pattern is present.