A fast process variation and pattern fidelity aware mask optimization algorithm

Ahmed, Ammar; Takahashi, Atsushi; Tanaka, Satoshi; Kodama, Chikaaki

doi:10.1109/iccad.2014.7001358

Cited by 21 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…As long as no electric violations occur in the circuit functionality, EPE evaluation can be relaxed. Let EPE max be the maximum allowable EPE distance [10]. For fast evaluation, EPE is statically measured among a set of tap points defined on the boundary of T, as given in Figure 5.…”

Section: Mask Evaluation Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since finding an optimal mask solution with acceptable wafer image quality under all possible process conditions is infeasible, the industry defines a process window including a set of process conditions upon request. The most probable process condition is often defined as nominal process condition under which acceptable wafer image quality is desired with minimizing the variations between different images within the process window [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…OPC computation time forms another crucial factor. For example, brute force algorithms to find optimal mask solutions are infeasible for industrial cases, wherein, mask data have to be prepared in a matter of hours to cover the huge number of target circuitries [10,13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) Under Immersion Lithography

Ahmed¹,

Takahashi²,

Kodaman³

2018

Micro/Nanolithography - A Heuristic Aspect on the Enduring Technology

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As advanced technology nodes continue scaling down into sub-16 nm regime, optical microlithography becomes more vulnerable to process variations. As a result, overall lithographic yield continuously degrades. Since next-generation lithography (NGL) is still not mature enough, the industry relies heavily on resolution enhancement techniques (RETs), wherein optical proximity correction (OPC) with 193 nm immersion lithography is dominant in the foreseeable future. However, OPC algorithms are getting more aggressive. Consequently, complex mask solutions are outputted. Furthermore, this results in long computation time along with mask data volume explosion. In this chapter, recent state-of-the-art OPC algorithms are discussed. Thereafter, the performance of a recently published fast OPC methodology-to generate highly manufactured mask solutions with acceptable pattern fidelity under process variations-is verified on the public benchmarks.

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Section: Mask Evaluation Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) Under Immersion Lithography

Ahmed¹,

Takahashi²,

Kodaman³

2018

Micro/Nanolithography - A Heuristic Aspect on the Enduring Technology

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“…Simulating less critical regions using lower number of kernels has been proposed in [17] at the cost of computation time increase with iterations. Intensity Difference Map (IDM) has been proposed [8], wherein, top weight kernel is used to simulate intensity map for which compensative IDM is added. However, IDM itself needs to be adaptively fixed following mask shape chances.…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, several wafer estimation models have been proposed. Intensity Difference Map (IDM) has been introduced to estimate the intensity map (from which wafer image is extracted) of a given mask within a short a time and with acceptable estimation accuracy [8]. IDM stores the intensity map of some reference mask estimated by lower weight Sum of Coherent Systems (SOCS) kernels [9] of a lithographic system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Fast Mask Manufacturability and Process Variation Aware OPC Algorithm with Exploiting a Novel Intensity Estimation Model

Ahmed

Takahashi

Kodama

2016

IEICE Trans. Fundamentals

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With being pushed into sub-16 nm regime, advanced technology nodes printing in optical micro-lithography relies heavily on aggressive Optical Proximity Correction (OPC) in the foreseeable future. Although acceptable pattern fidelity is utilized under process variations, mask design time and mask manufacturability form crucial parameters whose tackling in the OPC recipe is highly demanded by the industry. In this paper, we propose an intensity based OPC algorithm to find a highly manufacturable mask solution for a target pattern with acceptable pattern fidelity under process variations within a short computation time. This is achieved through utilizing a fast intensity estimation model in which intensity is numerically correlated with local mask density and kernel type to estimate the intensity in a short time and with acceptable estimation accuracy. This estimated intensity is used to guide feature shifting, alignment, and concatenation following linearly interpolated variational intensity error model to achieve high mask manufacturability with preserving acceptable pattern fidelity under process variations. Experimental results show the effectiveness of our proposed algorithm on the public benchmarks.

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