System and method for determining local focus points during inspection in a charged particle system

A non-transitory computer readable medium that stores a set of instructions that is executable by at least one processor of a computing device to cause the computing device to perform a method for determining local focus points (LFPs) on a sample, the method comprising:

• selecting a first plurality of resist pattern designs;
• performing a plurality of process simulations using the first plurality of resist pattern designs;
• identifying a hotspot that corresponds to a resist pattern design based on results of the performed process simulations;
• determining focus-related characteristics that correspond to a plurality of candidate resist pattern designs, wherein the plurality of candidate resist pattern designs is a subset of the first plurality of resist pattern designs and the subset is selected based on the identified hotspot;
• and
• determining locations of a plurality of LFPs based on the generated focus-related characteristics.

A method for determining local focus points (LFPs) on a sample, the method comprising:

• selecting a first plurality of resist pattern designs;
• performing a plurality of process simulations using the first plurality of resist pattern designs;
• identifying a hotspot that corresponds to a resist pattern design based on results of the performed process simulations;
• determining focus-related characteristics that correspond to a plurality of candidate resist pattern designs, wherein the plurality of candidate resist pattern designs is a subset of the first plurality of resist pattern designs and the subset is selected based on the identified hotspot;
• and
• determining locations of a plurality of LFPs based on the generated focus-related characteristics.