This article presents experimental results on the temperature rise in x‐ray masks and the temperature‐induced distortions printed on wafers during scanning synchrotron radiation exposure. It also presents theoretical analyses confirming the validity of the experiments. The temperature rise was measured with an infrared camera and the resultant thermal distortions were quantified by measuring the displacements of patterns printed on wafers. The theoretical simulations were performed using the finite element method. Results of experiments and simulations agree and indicate that even for exposures in air the temperature‐induced distortions are rather small.