An electron image projection system has been developed which provides subfield or die‐to‐die alignment without mechanical motion of the mask or the wafer. This is made possible by a novel thin foil detection system which allows conventional alignment marks (i.e., etched grooves) and backscattered electron signals to be used for die‐to‐die alignment. Due to the fact that the wafer forms part of the imaging system in a photocathode projection system, any wafer flatness variation aggravates image distortion. This has made it very difficult to achieve accurate level‐to‐level overlay using a global alignment technology. The new alignment technique described provides a means of detecting alignment marks surrounding each die or subfield. The alignment marks can be placed in the scribe streets of the wafer, thereby not occupying valuable active areas. The foil detector is placed between mask and wafer and is biased in order to not distort the imaging field. Experimental results of image distortion and alignment sensitivity measurements indicate feasibility of this technique.