Preserving hierarchical structure information within a design file

A verification device for verifying a design file for digital lithography, the verification device comprises:

• a memory comprising the design file;
• and
• a controller configured to:
• access the design file;
• detect areas of interest within the design file based on interactions between structures of cells within one or more hierarchical layers of the design file;
• apply one or more compliance rules to the design file to determine compliance of the design file by:
• detecting non-orthogonal edges within the areas of interest based on detecting an edge of a first structure of the structures being non-orthogonal with an edge of a second structure of the structures, wherein the first structure and the second structure are overlapping with each other;
• detecting non-compliant overlapping structures within the areas of interest;
• and
• detecting a non-compliant interaction between a reference layer of the design file and a target layer of the design file;
• and
• verify the design file in response to a comparison of a number of the non-orthogonal edges, the non-compliant overlapping structures and the non-compliant interactions to a threshold, wherein the verified design file is output to a digital lithography device to pattern a substrate based on the verified design file.

A computer program product for verifying a design file for digital lithography, the computer program product comprising:

• a computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program code embodied therewith, the computer-readable program code executable by one or more computer processors to:
• access the design file from a memory;
• detect areas of interest within the design file based on interactions between structures of cells within one or more hierarchical layers of the design file;
• apply one or more compliance rules the design file to determine compliance of the design file by:
• detecting non-orthogonal edges within the areas of interest based on detecting an edge of a first structure of the structures being non-orthogonal with an edge of a second structure of the structures, wherein the first structure and the second structure are overlapping with each other;
• detecting non-compliant overlapping structures within the areas of interest;
• and
• detecting a non-compliant interaction between a reference layer of the design file and a target layer of the design file;
• and
• verify the design file in a response to a comparison of a number of the non-orthogonal edges, the non-compliant overlapping structures and the non-compliant interactions to a threshold, wherein the verified design file is output to a digital lithography device to pattern a substrate based on the verified design file.