System and method of predicting problematic areas for lithography in a circuit design
AssigneeInternational Business Machines Corporation
InventorsTimothy A. Brunner, Stephen E. Greco, Bernhard R. Liegl, Hua Xiang
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Abstract
A system and method is provided which predicts problematic areas for lithography in a circuit design, and more specifically, which uses modeling data from a modeling tool to accurately predict problematic lithographic areas. The method includes identifying surface heights of plurality of tiles of a modeled wafer, and mathematically mimicking a lithographic tool to determine best planes of focus for exposure for the plurality of tiles.
Claims25
A method of predicting problematic areas for lithography comprising:
- identifying surface heights of a plurality tiles of a modeled wafer;
- and
- mathematically mimicking a lithographic tool to determine best planes of focus for exposure for the plurality of tiles.
A method, comprising:
- calculating a plane which best fits modeled surface height data for a predetermined number of values within a slit;
- calculating a distance along the axis of illumination distances of each tile within the slit from the calculated plane;
- and
- identifying tiles which are above a certain specification related to a depth of focus for a lithography process based on the calculated distance along the axis of illumination.
A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having readable program code embodied in the medium, the computer program product includes at least one component to:
- identify surface heights of one or more tiles of a modeled wafer;
- and
- mathematically mimicking a lithographic tool to determine best planes of focus for exposure for the one or more tiles.
A design structure embodied in a machine readable medium for designing, manufacturing, or testing an integrated circuit, the design structure comprising:
- calculating a plane which best fits modeled surface height data for a predetermined number of values within a slit;
- calculating a distance along the axis of illumination distances of each tile within the slit from the calculated plane;
- and
- identifying tiles which are above a certain specification related to a depth of focus for a lithography process based on the calculated distance along the axis of illumination.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.