Influence of Lithography Distortion due to Metal Fill on CA

Abstract

In the process of integrated circuit design and manufacturing, dummy metal fill can improve the planarity of layout after Chemical Mechanical Polishing (CMP). However, it will also cause lithography distortion and Critical Area (CA) variation. This paper compares and analyzes the influences of lithography distortion due to metal fill on CA from the perspectives of different defect particles based on 45nm technology node. The results indicate that dummy metal fill can increase open CA after lithography and the defect particle with the diameter of 0.066um leads to the largest increment percentage of open CA, which will take up almost 10%. This paper is instructive in researching dummy metal fill and CA or related fields in the future.