Method of optical proximity correction according to complexity of mask pattern
AssigneeUnited Microelectronics Corp.
InventorsTe-Hsien Hsieh, Ming-Jui Chen, Cheng-Te Wang, Shih-Ming Kuo, Jing-Yi Lee
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Abstract
A method of optical proximity correction (OPC) includes the following steps. At first, a layout pattern is provided to a computer system. Subsequently, the layout pattern is classified into at least a first region and at least a second region. Then, several iterations of OPC calculations are performed to the layout pattern, and a total number of OPC calculations performed in the first region is substantially larger than a total number of OPC calculations performed in the second region. Afterwards, a corrected layout pattern is outputted through the computer system onto a mask.
Claims14
A method of optical proximity correction (OPC), comprising:
- providing a layout pattern to a computer system, wherein the layout pattern comprises a plurality of geometric patterns, each of the geometric patterns has a judgment value, and the judgment value is positively corresponding to a value of mask error enhancement factor (MEEF), negatively corresponding to a value of normalized image log slope (NILS), and negatively corresponding to a value of contrast;
- classifying the layout pattern into at least a first region and at least a second region, wherein each of the first region and the second region comprises a plurality of patterns, each pattern comprises at least one line segment, and a complexity of the layout pattern of the first region is substantially higher than a complexity of the layout pattern of the second region;
- performing several iterations of OPC calculations to modify the original layout pattern, wherein a total number of OPC calculations performed in the first region is substantially larger than a total number of OPC calculations performed in the second region;
- and
- outputting a corrected layout pattern through the computer system onto a mask.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.