Modeling of a design in reticle enhancement technology

A method for reticle enhancement technology (RET) comprising:

• a) inputting a target wafer pattern, the target wafer pattern spanning an entire design area;
• b) dividing the entire design area into a plurality of tiles, each tile having a halo region surrounding the tile;
• c) iterating a proposed mask for the entire design area until the proposed mask meets criteria towards producing the target wafer pattern, wherein each iteration comprises:
• calculating a predicted wafer pattern for a subset of the plurality of tiles, the subset having from two to all tiles in the plurality of tiles, wherein the calculating is performed for each tile in the subset and its halo region;
• and
• updating the proposed mask for that tile;
• wherein all tiles in the subset are calculated before the next iteration.

A system for reticle enhancement technology (RET), comprising:

• a computer processor configured to:
• receive a target wafer pattern to be used in reticle enhancement technology;
• calculate a function sample array (FSA) for the target wafer pattern, the FSA for the target wafer pattern being a smooth function;
• calculate a continuous tone mask (CTM), wherein the CTM is represented as a smooth function captured as a function sample array (FSA);
• and
• compare the target wafer pattern to a predicted wafer pattern produced by the CTM.