Methods and systems for designing and manufacturing optical lithography masks

A method of manufacturing an optical lithography mask, the method comprising:

• designing an optical photomask, wherein designing comprises:
• providing, to a computer device, a target pattern that indicates a target shape of a pre-pattern opening in a photoresist layer on a semiconductor substrate;
• correcting, with the computer device, the target pattern using an optical proximity correction (OPC) model to generate OPC output information that includes edge placement error (EPE) information, a first corrected pattern, a simulated contour of the pre-pattern opening, or a combination thereof;
• adjusting, with the computer device, the target pattern, the OPC model, or a combination thereof with OPC based adjustments that are based on the OPC output information;
• and
• correcting, with the computer device, the first corrected pattern using the OPC model in response to the OPC based adjustments to generate a second corrected pattern;
• and
• manufacturing the optical photomask based on the second corrected pattern.

A non-transitory computer readable medium storing control logic for operating a computer system, the control logic including control logic instructions for:

• providing a target pattern that indicates a target shape of a pre-pattern opening in a photoresist layer on a semiconductor substrate;
• correcting the target pattern using an optical proximity correction (OPC) model to generate OPC output information that includes edge placement error (EPE) information, a first corrected pattern, a simulated contour of the pre-pattern opening, or a combination thereof;
• adjusting the target pattern, the OPC model, or a combination thereof with OPC based adjustments that are based on the OPC output information;
• and
• correcting the first corrected pattern using the OPC model in response to the OPC based adjustments to generate a second corrected pattern.