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US 7,743,358 B2Granted
Apparatus and method for segmenting edges for optical proximity correction
AssigneeCadence Design Systems, Inc.
InventorsAbdurrahman Sezginer, Bayram Yenikaya, Hsu-Ting Huang
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Abstract
An apparatus and method for modifying a mask data set includes calculating a derivative of a figure-of-merit, indicative of a data set defined by a plurality of polygon edges and then segmenting polygon edges in response to said step of calculating.
Claims32
A computer implemented method for modifying a mask data set, comprising:
- calculating a mathematical derivative of a figure-of-merit with respect to a mask function, wherein the figure-of-merit is indicative of a data set defined by a plurality of polygon edges and the mathematical derivative of the figure of merit is derived from a computational model of a patterning process;
- and
- utilizing a computer to segment polygon edges in response to said step of calculating.
A computer implemented method for modifying a lithography data set, comprising:
- assigning a figure-of-merit to any data set defined by a plurality of polygons, each polygon having edges;
- calculating a mathematical derivative of said figure-of-merit of said data set relative to a displacement of at least one infinitesimal section of an edge;
- and
- segmenting said edge relative to at least one point at which said mathematical derivative changes its sign;
- and
- utilizing a computer to move at least one said edge segment in a way that increases said figure-of-merit to form an improved set of polygons.
3 more elements
A computer implemented method for correcting photolithography proximity, comprising:
- adjusting a data set indicative of a plurality of polygon edges defined by a figure-of-merit which provides a measure of how well the data set meets the design goals for an integrated circuit layout;
- segmenting one or more of the individual polygon edges at a point where a mathematical derivative of the figure-of-merit changes sign, wherein the mathematical derivative of the figure of merit is derived from a computational model of a patterning process;
- moving the segmented edges until a set of optimized polygon edges results and
- utilizing a computer to perform an optical proximity correction on said set of optimized polygon edges in order to correct for inherent distortions resulting from a photolithography process.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.