Method and apparatus for mixed-mode optical proximity correction
View Patent ↗A semiconductor layout testing and correction system is disclosed. The system combines both rule-based optical proximity correction and model-based optical proximity correction in order to test and correct semiconductor layouts. In a first embodiment, a semiconductor layout is first processed by a rule-based optical proximity correction system and then subsequently processed by a model-based optical proximity correction system. In another embodiment, the system first processes a semiconductor layout with a rule-based optical proximity correction system and then selectively processes difficult features using a model-based optical proximity correction system. In yet another embodiment, the system selectively processes the various features of a semiconductor layout using a rule-based optical proximity correction system or a model-based optical proximity correction system.
1. A method of preparing a semiconductor mask, said method comprising:
accepting a semiconductor design;
processing said semiconductor design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
selectively pre-biasing features of said rule corrected semiconductor design designated for model based correction to produce a bias corrected semiconductor design;
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor design or said bias corrected semiconductor design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor design; and
outputting said modeled semiconductor design for preparing said semiconductor mask.
2. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein said step of selectively pre-biasing comprises applying a set of rules to the features based solely on feature shape.
3. A method of preparing a semiconductor mask, said method comprising:
accepting a semiconductor design;
processing said semiconductor design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor design or a bias corrected semiconductor design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor design;
verifying said modeled semiconductor design against specifications using a user-selected dose setting to produce a verified semiconductor design; and
outputting said verified semiconductor design for preparing said semiconductor mask.
4. A method of preparing a semiconductor mask, said method comprising:
accepting a semiconductor design;
processing said semiconductor design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor design or a bias corrected semiconductor design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor design;
verifying said semiconductor design against specifications using a user-selected focus setting to produce a verified semiconductor design; and
outputting said verified semiconductor design for preparing said semiconductor mask.
5. A method of preparing a semiconductor mask, said method comprising:
accepting a semiconductor design;
processing said semiconductor design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
examining said rule-corrected semiconductor design to identify a set of features to process with model-based optical proximity correction;
selectively pre-biasing said set of features before model-based optical proximity correction;
processing said set of features with model-based optical proximity correction; and
outputting a final corrected semiconductor design.
6. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein processing said set of features with model-based optical proximity correction comprises verifying said semiconductor design against specifications.
7. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein a user may select a dose setting for said verifying.
8. The method as claimed in claim 6 wherein a user may select a focus setting for said verifying.
9. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein examining said rule-corrected semiconductor design to identify a set of features to process with model-based optical proximity correction comprises applying a set of rules to identify difficult features.
10. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein examining said rule-corrected semiconductor design further comprises selecting a particular model-based optical proximity correction system for each feature.
11. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein a feature comprises a segment.
12. The method as claimed in claim 5 wherein a feature comprises a shape.
13. A semiconductor device, said semiconductor device created from a processed layout generated by:
processing an input layout design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
selectively pre-biasing features of said rule corrected semiconductor design designated for model based correction to produce a bias corrected semiconductor design;
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor layout design or said bias corrected semiconductor design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor mask; and
outputting said modeled semiconductor design for preparing said semiconductor device.
14. A semiconductor device, said semiconductor device created from a processed layout generated by:
processing an initial semiconductor layout with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor layout;
examining said rule-corrected semiconductor layout to identify a set of features to process with model-based optical proximity correction;
processing said set of features with model-based optical proximity correction to produce a modeled semiconductor layout;
verifying said modeled semiconductor layout against specifications using at least one of a user-selected dose and focus;
outputting a final corrected semiconductor layout design.
15. A computer readable medium, said computer readable medium containing computer instructions for:
processing an input layout design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor layout design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor design; and
verifying said modeled semiconductor design against specifications using at least one of a user-selected dose and focus.
16. A computer readable medium, said computer readable medium containing computer instructions for:
processing an initial semiconductor layout with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor layout;
examining said rule-corrected semiconductor layout to identify a set of features to process with model-based optical proximity correction;
selectively pre-biasing said set of features before processing said set of feature with model-based optical proximity correction;
processing said set of features with model-based optical proximity correction; and
outputting a final corrected semiconductor layout design.
17. A computer data signal embodied in an electromagnetic waveform comprising computer instructions for:
processing an input layout design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design;
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor layout design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor design;
verifying said modeled semiconductor design against specifications using at least one of a user-selected dose and focus to produce a verified semiconductor design; and
outputting said verified semiconductor design.
18. A computer data signal embodied in an electromagnetic waveform comprising computer instructions for:
processing an initial semiconductor layout with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor layout;
examining said rule-corrected semiconductor layout to identify a set of features to process with model-based optical proximity correction;
selectively pre-biasing said set of features before processing said set of feature with model-based optical proximity correction;
processing said set of features with model-based optical proximity correction; and
outputting a final corrected semiconductor layout design.
19. A computer apparatus, said computer apparatus comprising:
a processor for processing computer instructions; and
a memory, said memory containing a set of computer instructions for
processing an input layout design with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor design,
modeling said rule corrected semiconductor layout design with an optical model to produce a modeled semiconductor design, and
verifying said modeled semiconductor design against specifications using at least one of a user-selected dose and focus.
20. A computer apparatus, said computer apparatus comprising:
a processor for processing computer instructions; and
a memory, said memory containing a set of computer instructions for
processing an initial semiconductor layout with a set of optical proximity correction rules to produce a rule corrected semiconductor layout,
examining said rule-corrected semiconductor layout to identify a set of features to process with model-based optical proximity correction, and
selectively pre-biasing said set of features before processing said set of feature with model-based optical proximity correction,
processing said set of features with model-based optical proximity correction, and
outputting a final corrected semiconductor layout design.