System and method for accelerating physical simulation models during microelectronic device fabrication

A method comprising:

• running a physical simulation model at a first grid size having a first resolution, wherein the physical simulation model simulates an on-wafer performance of at least one microelectronics fabrication process;
• generating outputs at the first grid size having the first resolution from the physical simulation model;
• inputting the outputs at the first grid size having the first resolution from the physical simulation model into a resolution enhancement model (REM);
• and
• generating outputs at a second grid size having a second resolution via the REM, wherein the second grid size is smaller than the first grid size, wherein the second resolution is higher than the first resolution;
• and
• adjusting the REM to achieve a desired degree of similarity of the outputs of the REM model,
• wherein the generation of the outputs at the second grid size having the second resolution via the REM based on the outputs at the first grid size having the first resolution from the physical simulation model reduces at least one of a computational time cost or a computational resource cost of a controller running the physical simulation model.

A system, comprising:

• a metrology subsystem configured to acquire one or more measurements of a portion of a sample;
• and
• a controller communicatively coupled to, wherein the controller includes one or more processors and memory, wherein the memory is configured to store program instructions, wherein the one or more processors are configured to execute the program instructions causing the one or more processors to:
• obtain one or more inputs from the metrology subsystem, wherein the one or more inputs include images having a first resolution;
• run the physical simulation model at a first grid size having the first resolution, wherein the physical simulation model simulates an on-wafer performance of at least one microelectronics fabrication process;
• generate outputs at the first grid size having the first resolution from the physical simulation model;
• input the outputs at the first grid size having the first resolution from the physical simulation model into a resolution enhancement model (REM);
• and
• generate outputs at a second grid size having a second resolution via the REM, wherein the second grid size is smaller than the first grid size, wherein the second resolution is higher than the first resolution;
• and
• adjusting the REM to achieve a desired degree of similarity of the outputs of the REM model,
• wherein the generation of the outputs at the second grid size having the second resolution via the REM based on the outputs at the first grid size having the first resolution from the physical simulation model reduces at least one of a computational time cost or a computational resource cost of the controller to run the physical simulation model.