# US 2021/0240896 A1 · Unified material-to-systems simulation, design, and verification for semiconductor design and manufacturing > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0240896 A1 - Document ID: US20210240896A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/781,980 - Filed: 2020-02-04 - Published: 2021-08-05 - Earliest claimed: 2020-02-04 - Assignees: Applied Materials, Inc. - Applicants: Applied Materials, Inc. - Inventors: Bhuvaneshwari Ayyagari; Angada Bangalore Sachid - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210240896A1 ## CPC - G06F 30/3308: using simulation - G06F 30/20: Design optimisation, verification or simulation (optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30) - G06F 30/367: Design verification, e.g. using simulation, simulation program with integrated circuit emphasis [SPICE], direct methods or relaxation methods - G06F 30/398: Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] (optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36) - G06F 30/27: using machine learning, e.g. artificial intelligence, neural networks, support vector machines [SVM] or training a model - G06F 2115/02: System on chip [SoC] design - G06F 2115/10: Processors - G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N) ## Abstract A complete, unified material-to-systems simulation, design, and verification method for semiconductor design and manufacturing may include evaluating effects of semiconductor material or process changes on software algorithms. The method may include translating the material or process change into a database of characteristics; generating primitive circuit structures using the database of characteristics; performing an electrical characterization of the primitive circuit structures; providing an output of the electrical characterization to a script to generate compact models; generating a lite version of standard cells; generating a digital system based on the lite version of the standard cells; and evaluating a performance of a software algorithm on the digital system to determine an effect of the material or process change for the semiconductor manufacturing process. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A method for evaluating effects of semiconductor material or process changes on software algorithms, the method comprising: receiving, by one or more computing systems, a material or process change for a semiconductor manufacturing process; translating, by the one or more computing systems, the material or process change into a database of characteristics; generating, by the one or more computing systems, primitive circuit structures using the database of characteristics; performing, by the one or more computing systems, an electrical characterization of the primitive circuit structures; providing, by the one or more computing systems, an output of the electrical characterization to a script to generate compact models; generating, by the one or more computing systems, a lite version of standard cells; generating, by the one or more computing systems, a digital system based on the lite version of the standard cells; and evaluating, by the one or more computing systems, a performance of a software algorithm on the digital system to determine an effect of the material or process change for the semiconductor manufacturing process. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, wherein the primitive circuit structures comprise a transistor. ### Claim 3 (depends on 2) The method of claim 2, wherein performing the electrical characterization of the primitive circuit structures comprises generating current and voltage characteristics for the transistor. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising performing, by the one or more computing systems, a Technology Computer-Aided Design (TCAD) simulation of the primitive circuit structures. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The method of claim 4, further comprising: generating, by the one or more computing systems, circuit models of the primitive circuit structures using the database of characteristics and the TCAD simulation; and performing, by the one or more computing systems, a circuit simulation of the circuit models. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The method of claim 5, further comprising: determining, by the one or more computing systems, that the material or process change for the semiconductor manufacturing process is acceptable based on results of the circuit simulation of the circuit models. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, by the one or more computing systems, a plurality of material or process changes for the semiconductor manufacturing process; translating, by the one or more computing systems, the plurality of material or process changes into the database of characteristics; generating, by the one or more computing systems, additional primitive circuit structures using the database of characteristics for each of the plurality of material or process changes; simulating, by the one or more computing systems, the additional primitive circuit structures; and identifying, by the one or more computing systems, acceptable material or process changes in the plurality of material or process changes based on results of simulating the primitive circuit structures. ### Claim 8 A system comprising: one or more processors; one or more memory devices comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving a material or process change for a semiconductor manufacturing process; translating the material or process change into a database of characteristics; generating primitive circuit structures using the database of characteristics; performing an electrical characterization of the primitive circuit structures; providing an output of the electrical characterization to a script to generate compact models; generating a lite version of standard cells; generating a digital system based on the lite version of the standard cells; and evaluating a performance of a software algorithm on the digital system to determine an effect of the material or process change for the semiconductor manufacturing process. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the primitive circuit structures comprise a memory film stack. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The system of claim 9, wherein the lite version of the standard cells comprising a memory array. ### Claim 11 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the compact models comprise a ring oscillator. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The system of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprise: testing a performance of the ring oscillator to determine Power-Performance-Area-Cost (PPAC) characteristics; and determining that the performance of the ring oscillator is acceptable before generating the lite version of the standard cells. ### Claim 13 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the lite version of the standard cells omits features that are not required for the digital system. ### Claim 14 (depends on 8) The system of claim 8, wherein the software algorithm comprises an Artificial Intelligence (AI) and/or Machine Learning (ML) algorithm. ### Claim 15 A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising: receiving a material or process change for a semiconductor manufacturing process; translating the material or process change into a database of characteristics; generating primitive circuit structures using the database of characteristics; performing an electrical characterization of the primitive circuit structures; providing an output of the electrical characterization to a script to generate compact models; generating a lite version of standard cells; generating a digital system based on the lite version of the standard cells; and evaluating a performance of a software algorithm on the digital system to determine an effect of the material or process change for the semiconductor manufacturing process. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise: generating a lite version of a Process Design Kit (PDK) using the lite version of the standard cells. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein cells in the PDK use abstracted values extracted from the database of characteristics. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the lite version of the PDK may include only cells that are affected by the material or process change for the semiconductor manufacturing process. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the digital system comprises a processor. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise conducting at least two short-loop optimization tests before generating the digital system to test Power-Performance-Area-Cost (PPAC) characteristics of the primitive circuit structures and the lite version of the standard cells.