IC with test structures and E-beam pads embedded within a contiguous standard cell area

1. An integrated circuit (IC) that includes a plurality of patterned layers, including at least a first conductive layer, a second conductive layer, and a gate layer, wherein said patterned layers form a contiguous standard cell area that comprises a mix of at least one thousand logic cells and fill cells, placed into at least twenty vertically adjacent rows, with at least twenty cells placed horizontally side-by-side in each row, wherein each cell comprises:

elongated upper and lower supply rails, each formed in the first conductive layer, each extending longitudinally in the horizontal direction across the cell to abut with corresponding upper and lower supply rails in adjacent cells;

a plurality of elongated gate stripes, each extending longitudinally in the vertical direction between corresponding upper and lower supply rails, the elongated gate stripes evenly spaced at a uniform gate-to-gate pitch in the horizontal direction;

1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th and 5 th first-layer conductive tracks, each extending longitudinally in the horizontal direction, each of said said first-layer conductive tracks vertically positioned between the upper and lower supply rails and evenly spaced in the vertical direction, each of said first-layer conductive tracks defining an area where patterning in the first conductive layer may appear; and,

at least 1 st , 2 nd and 3 rd second-layer conductive tracks, each extending longitudinally in the vertical direction, each of said second-layer conductive tracks positioned between adjacent gate stripes and evenly spaced in the horizontal direction at the uniform gate-to-gate pitch, each of said second-layer conductive tracks defining an area where patterning in the second conductive layer may appear;

wherein the improvement comprises:

first, second, and third 4×3 e-beam pads, each contained within the contiguous standard cell area, wherein each of the 4×3 e-beam pads comprises:

four elongated first-layer features, each at least three times the uniform gate-to-gate pitch in length, said four first-layer features patterned in four vertically adjacent first-layer conductive tracks;

three elongated second-layer features, patterned in three adjacent second-layer conductive tracks;

wherein the four first-layer features and three second-layer features are arranged so as to overlap at twelve overlap points, with three overlap points in each of the adjacent first-layer conductive tracks; and,

six contacts/vias, each placed at an overlap point, and configured to electrically connect all of the first-layer and second-layer features together; and,

first, second, and third test area geometries, the first test area geometry electrically connected between the first 4×3 e-beam pad and an upper or lower supply rail, the second test area geometry electrically connected between the second 4×3 e-beam pad and an upper or lower supply rail, and the third test area geometry electrically connected between the third 4×3 e-beam pad and an upper or lower supply rail;

wherein:

the first test area geometry comprises tip-to-tip short or leakage test area geometry;

the second test area geometry comprises side-to-side short or leakage test area geometry; and,

the third test area geometry comprises via-chamfer short or leakage test area geometry.

2. An IC, as defined in claim 1 , wherein within the contiguous standard cell area, the supply rails and the 2 nd and 4 th first-layer conductive tracks are patterned with a first mask exposure and the 1 st , 3 rd and 5 th first-layer conductive tracks are patterned with a second mask exposure.

3. An IC, as defined in claim 1 , wherein within the contiguous standard cell area, the 1 st , 3 rd and 5 th first-layer conductive tracks are patterned with a first mask exposure and the supply rails and the 2 nd and 4 th first-layer conductive tracks are patterned with a second mask exposure.

4. An IC, as defined in claim 1 , wherein said IC also includes a source/drain (AA) layer and a source/drain silicide (TS) layer, and the second conductive layer comprises a TS layer.

5. An IC, as defined in claim 4 , wherein the first conductive layer is located above the GATE layer and above the TS layer.

6. An IC, as defined in claim 5 , wherein the first test area geometry and the first 4×3 e-beam pad are both instantiated at the same fill cell position within the contiguous standard cell area.

7. An IC, as defined in claim 6 , wherein the second test area geometry and the second 4×3 e-beam pad are both instantiated at the same fill cell position within the contiguous standard cell area.

8. An IC, as defined in claim 7 , wherein the third test area geometry and the third 4×3 e-beam pad are both instantiated at the same fill cell position within the contiguous standard cell area.

9. An IC, as defined in claim 1 , wherein within each 4×3 e-beam pad, no two vertically adjacent first-layer conductive tracks contain any horizontally aligned contacts/vias.

10. An IC, as defined in claim 1 , wherein within each 4×3 e-beam pad, the uppermost and lowermost first-layer conductive tracks each contain two contacts/vias, whereas the middle two first-layer conductive tracks each contain only a single contact/via.

11. An IC, as defined in claim 1 , wherein the contiguous standard cell area includes at least ten instances of 4×3 e-beam pads and at least ten instances of associated test area geometry.

12. An IC, as defined in claim 11 , wherein the contiguous standard cell area includes at least one-hundred instances of 4×3 e-beam pads and at least one-hundred instances of associated test area geometry.

13. An IC, as defined in claim 12 , wherein the contiguous standard cell area includes at least five-hundred instances of 4×3 e-beam pads and at least five-hundred instances of associated test area geometry.

14. An IC, as defined in claim 4 , wherein the contiguous standard cell area further includes additional test area geometry selected from a list that consists of:

tip-to-tip-short-configured test area geometry;

tip-to-tip-leakage-configured test area geometry;

tip-to-side-short-configured test area geometry;

tip-to-side-leakage-configured test area geometry;

side-to-side-short-configured test area geometry;

side-to-side-leakage-configured test area geometry;

L-shape-interlayer-short-configured test area geometry;

L-shape-interlayer-leakage-configured test area geometry;

diagonal-short-configured test area geometry;

diagonal-leakage-configured test area geometry;

corner-short-configured test area geometry;

corner-leakage-configured test area geometry;

interlayer-overlap-short-configured test area geometry;

interlayer-overlap-leakage-configured test area geometry;

via-chamfer-short-configured test area geometry;

via-chamfer-leakage-configured test area geometry;

merged-via-short-configured test area geometry;

merged-via-leakage-configured test area geometry;

snake-open-configured test area geometry;

snake-resistance-configured test area geometry;

stitch-open-configured test area geometry;

stitch-resistance-configured test area geometry;

via-open-configured test area geometry;

via-resistance-configured test area geometry;

metal-island-open-configured test area geometry;

metal-island-resistance-configured test area geometry;

merged-via-open-configured test area geometry; and,

merged-via-resistance-configured test area geometry.