System and method for generating a flat mask design for projecting a circuit pattern to a spherical semiconductor device

A method for generating a mask from a conventional circuit design for projection onto a surface of a non-planar semiconductor device, the method comprising the steps of:

• imposing a grid system on the circuit design, the grid system having a first number of columns and a second number of rows;
• segmenting the circuit design into a plurality of circuit segments, wherein the circuit segment is enclosed in the grid segment;
• identifying a plurality of intersection points in each grid segment at which the circuit segment crosses boundaries of the grid segment;
• converting the grid segment to a plurality of mask segments by establishing boundary conditions for each of the mask segments using a predetermined relationship to prevent overlapping at boundaries of the projected image on the non-planar shaped semiconductor device;
• and
• mapping the circuit segments onto the mask, the mask having a number of circular orbits corresponding to the first number of columns, and a number of mask segments on each orbit corresponding to the second number of rows.

A system for generating a mask from a circuit design for projection onto a surface of a spherical semiconductor device to implement the circuit design thereon, the system comprising:

• means for imposing a grid system on the circuit design, the grid system having a first number of columns and a second number of rows;
• means for segmenting the circuit design into a plurality of circuit segments, wherein the circuit segment is enclosed in the grid segment;
• means for identifying a plurality of intersection points in each grid segment at which the circuit segment crosses boundaries of the grid segment;
• means for converting the grid segment to a plurality of mask segments by establishing boundary conditions for each of the mask segments using a predetermined relationship to prevent overlapping at boundaries of the projected image on the spherical shaped semiconductor device;
• and
• means for mapping the circuit segments onto the mask, the mask having a number of circular orbits corresponding to the first number of columns, and a number of mask segments on each orbit corresponding to the second number of rows.

A system for projecting a circuit design onto the surface of a spherical shape semiconductor device, said system comprising:

• a mask having a plurality of separate mask segments thereon containing the information of the circuit design;
• and
• a mirror assembly having a plurality of mirror segments for projecting the mask segments onto the spherical shaped semiconductor device;
• wherein there is no unnecessary overlapping at the boundaries of the images projected from any two mask segments.