US 7,117,477 B2 · System and method for lithography simulation

Abstract

There are many inventions described and illustrated herein. In one aspect, the present invention is directed to a technique of, and system for simulating, verifying, inspecting, characterizing, determining and/or evaluating the lithographic designs, techniques and/or systems, and/or individual functions performed thereby or components used therein. In one embodiment, the present invention is a system and method that accelerates lithography simulation, inspection, characterization and/or evaluation of the optical characteristics and/or properties, as well as the effects and/or interactions of lithographic systems and processing techniques. In this regard, in one embodiment, the present invention employs a lithography simulation system architecture, including application-specific hardware accelerators, and a processing technique to accelerate and facilitate verification, characterization and/or inspection of a mask design, for example, RET design, including detailed simulation and characterization of the entire lithography process to verify that the design achieves and/or provides the desired results on final wafer pattern. The system includes: (1) general purpose-type computing device(s) to perform the case-based logic having branches and inter-dependency in the data handling and (2) accelerator subsystems to perform a majority of the computation intensive tasks.

Claims55

Dependent claims

A method for evaluating a response of a lithographic design on wafer to a change in at least one process parameter of a photolithographic process, wherein the photolithographic process uses photolithographic equipment, the method comprising:

generating a pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, wherein the pixel-based bitmap includes pixel data, and wherein each pixel datum represents a pixel having a predetermined pixel size;
generating a first developed resist simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a first relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, and (3) a model of a resist;
generating a second developed resist simulated image of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a second relationship representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, and (3) the model of the resist;
wherein a difference between (i) the first relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process and (ii) the second relationship representing the imaging path of the projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process includes the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process;
and
determining the response of the lithographic design on wafer to the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process using the first developed resist simulated image and the second developed resist simulated image.

3 more elements

A system for evaluating a response of a lithographic design on wafer to a change in at least one process parameter of a photolithographic process, wherein the photolithographic process uses photolithographic equipment, the system comprising:

a microprocessor subsystem, including a plurality of microprocessors, to convert a lithographic design to a pixel-based bitmap representation thereof, wherein the pixel-based bitmap includes pixel data, and wherein each pixel datum represents a pixel having a predetermined pixel size;
and
a plurality of accelerator subsystems, each accelerator subsystem includes a plurality of programmable integrated circuits configured to process the pixel-based bitmap of the lithographic design in parallel, and each accelerator subsystem is connected to an associated microprocessor to calculate a portion of a plurality of developed resist simulated images of the lithographic design on wafer using (1) a corresponding portion of the pixel-based bitmap representation of the lithographic design, (2) a plurality of relationships representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process, wherein a difference between the relationships representing an imaging path of projection and illumination optics of the photolithographic process includes the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process, and (3) a model of a resist;
and
a data processing system to determine the response of the lithographic design on wafer to the change in the at least one process parameter of the photolithographic process using the plurality of developed resist simulated images of the lithographic design on wafer.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method for lithography simulation

Life of this patent

System and method for lithography simulation

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims55