An agile mask data preparation and writer dispatching approach

Abstract

An agile mask data preparation (MDP) approach is proposed to cut re-fracture cycle time as incurred by mask writer dispatching policy changes. Shorter re-fracture cycle time increases the flexibility of mask writer dispatching, as a result, mask writer's capacity can be utilized to its optimum. Preliminary results demonstrate promising benefits in MDP cycle time reduction and writer dispatching flexibility improvement. The agile MDP can save up to 40% of re-fracture cycle time. OASIS (Open Artwork System Interchange Standard) was proposed to address the GDSII file size explosion problem. However, OASIS has yet to gain wide acceptance in the mask industry. The authors envision OASIS adoption by the mask industry as a three-phase process and identify key issues of each phase from the mask manufacturer's perspective. As a long-term MDP flow reengineering project, an agile MDP and writer dispatching approach based on OASIS is proposed. The paper describes the results of an extensive evaluation on OASIS performance compared to that of GDSII, both original GDSII and post-OPC GDSII files. The file size of eighty percent of the original GDSII files is more than ten times larger compared to that of its OASIS counterpart.