Defective artifact removal in photolithography masks corrected for optical proximity
AssigneeIntel Corporation
InventorsJohn A. Swanson, Stephan Wagner
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Defective artifact removal is described in photolithography masks corrected for optical proximity. In one example a method is described in which partitions are identified in a mask design for independent optimization. The partitions are grouped and ordering into stages. The first stage is processed. Geometries are extracted from the periphery of the first stage partitions. The extracted geometries are added to the peripheries of second stage partitions. Then the second stage partitions are processed.
Claims15
A method comprising:
- generating a photolithography mask design;
- identifying partitions in the design for independent optimization;
- grouping the partitions and ordering each group into one of a sequence of stages;
- processing a group of partitions ordered in the first stage;
- extracting geometries from the periphery of partitions in the first stage after processing;
- adding the extracted geometries to the peripheries of partitions of the second stage;
- and
- processing the partitions of the second stage, the partitions including the added extracted geometries.
A computer-readable medium having instructions that when executed by the computer cause the computer to perform operations comprising:
- generating a photolithography mask design;
- identifying partitions in the design for independent optimization;
- grouping the partitions and ordering each group into one of a sequence of stages;
- processing a group of partitions ordered in the first stage;
- extracting geometries from the periphery of partitions in the first stage after processing;
- adding the extracted geometries to the peripheries of partitions of the second stage;
- and
- processing the partitions of the second stage, the partitions including the added extracted geometries.
An apparatus comprising:
- a mask deconstructor to identify partitions in a photolithography mask design for independent optimization, to group the partitions and order each group into one of a sequence of stages;
- a mask manipulator to process a group of partitions ordered in the first stage;
- the mask deconstructor further to extract geometries from the periphery of partitions in the first stage after processing, and add the extracted geometries to the peripheries of partitions of the second stage;
- and
- the mask manipulator further to process the partitions of the second stage, the partitions including the added extracted geometries.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.