Target-based thermal design using dummy insertion for semiconductor devices

An integrated circuit design method, comprising:

• providing an integrated circuit (IC) design layout;
• providing a thermal model for simulating thermal effect on the IC design layout, the thermal model including rigorous coupled-wave analysis (RCWA) optical simulation and silicon calibration;
• providing a convolution of the thermal model and the IC design layout to generate a thermal image profile of the IC design layout;
• defining a thermal target for optimizing thermal uniformity across the thermal image profile, the thermal target including an absorption target, a reflectivity target, and/or a pattern-density target for the IC design layout;
• comparing, by a processor, the thermal target and the thermal image profile to determine a difference data;
• and
• performing, by a processor, thermal dummy insertion to the IC design layout based on the difference data to provide a target-based IC design layout, wherein the thermal dummy insertion follows a model-based rule to optimize thermal uniformity and topographical uniformity.