Method and apparatus for reducing optical proximity correction output file size
AssigneeNumerical Technologies, Inc.
InventorYouping Zhang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An approach to reducing the size of an output file generated by an optical proximity correction (OPC) process is described. An OPC output can be examined to identify identically sized segments with identical biases. Adjoining segments to those first identified to identify repeating basic shapes. Those basic shapes can be further refined and expanded as desired. Finally, the output is rewritten making use of the repeating shapes in a hierarchical output that places each shape once as a child cell of the original geometry and uses references to that shape in other locations thereby reducing data volume size. The data volume savings can be considerable.
Claims32
A method for reducing an optical proximity correction (OPC) output file size, comprising:
- receiving an OPC output from an OPC process;
- examining the OPC output to identify groups of identically sized segments with identical biases;
- identifying adjoining segments with identical joining effects from the groups of identically sized segments;
- creating a basic shape from the adjoining segments with identical joining effects;
- forming a shape group from the basic shape, wherein forming the shape group involves adding additional shapes to the basic shape;
- defining a child cell to represent the shape group;
- and
- using the child cell to represent different instances of the shape group, thereby reducing the OPC output file size.
A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for reducing an optical proximity correction (OPC) output file size, the method comprising:
- receiving an OPC output from an OPC process;
- examining the OPC output to identify groups of identically sized segments with identical biases;
- identifying adjoining segments with identical joining effects from the groups of identically sized segments;
- creating a basic shape from the adjoining segments with identical joining effects;
- forming a shape group from the basic shape, wherein forming the shape group involves adding additional shapes to the basic shape;
- defining a child cell to represent the shape group;
- and
- using the child cell to represent different instances of the shape group, thereby reducing the OPC output file size.
An apparatus for reducing an optical proximity correction (OPC) output file size, comprising:
- a receiving mechanism that is configured to receive an OPC output from an OPC process;
- an examining mechanism that is configured to examine the OPC output to identify groups of identically sized segments with identical biases;
- an identifying mechanism that is configured to identify adjoining segments with identical joining effects from the groups of identically sized segments;
- a creating mechanism that is configured to create a basic shape from the adjoining segments with identical joining effects;
- a forming mechanism that is configured to form a shape group from the basic shape, wherein forming the shape group involves adding additional shapes to the basic shape;
- a defining mechanism that is configured to define a child cell to represent the shape group;
- and
- a representing mechanism that is configured to use the child cell to represent different instances of the shape group, thereby reducing the OPC output file size.
A system for reducing an optical proximity correction (OPC) output file size, comprising:
- a receiving means for receiving an OPC output from an OPC process;
- an examining means for examining the OPC output to identify groups of identically sized segments with identical biases;
- an identifying means for identifying adjoining segments with identical joining effects within the groups of identically sized segments;
- a basic shape creating means for creating a basic shape from adjoining segments with identical joining effects;
- a shape group forming means for forming a shape group from the basic shape, wherein forming the shape group involves adding additional shapes to the basic shape;
- a defining means for defining a child cell to represent the shape group;
- and
- a representing means for representing different instances of the shape group, thereby reducing the OPC output file size.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.