Grid-based fragmentation for optical proximity correction in photolithography mask applications

1. An optical proximity correction (OPC) method for photolithography applications that is executed on a computer comprising a processor, the OPC method comprising:

providing a target layout pattern that represents a corresponding mask pattern for a photolithography mask;

operating the processor to fragment at least one feature of the target layout pattern using a fragmentation grid that is independent of the target layout pattern, wherein the fragmentation grid comprises orthogonal gridlines; and

operating the processor to generate a fragment data set in response to fragmenting at least one feature of the target layout pattern.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

operating the processor to align the target layout pattern relative to the fragmentation grid.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

operating the processor to align the fragmentation grid relative to the target layout pattern.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the at least one feature of the target layout pattern includes an edge; and

the fragmentation grid comprises orthogonal gridlines orthogonal to the edge.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein

the method further comprises:

operating the processor to define fragmentation lines for the at least one feature of the target layout pattern, the fragmentation lines corresponding to the orthogonal gridlines.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

operating the processor to perform OPC on the fragment data set to obtain a corrected data set.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

operating the processor to process the corrected data set to define polygons in a mask-writer-compatible format.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:

operating the processor to write the photolithography mask using the polygons.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the polygons are rectangles.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein:

operating the processor to process the corrected data set results in a computer-readable mask writer file; and

the method further comprises:

operating the processor to save the mask writer file on a computer-readable medium.

11. An optical proximity correction (OPC) method for photolithography applications executed on a computer comprising a processor, the method comprising:

providing a virtual fragmentation grid that is independent of a target layout pattern, wherein the virtual fragmentation grid comprises a plurality of orthogonal gridlines;

operating the processor to fragment at least one feature of the target layout pattern along the plurality of orthogonal gridlines to obtain a fragment data set, the target layout pattern corresponding to a mask pattern;

operating the processor to process the fragment data set to define polygons in a mask-writer-compatible format; and

writing a photolithography mask that is based upon the polygons.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

operating the processor to align the target layout pattern and the virtual fragmentation grid relative to each other, prior to operating the processor to fragment at least one feature of the target layout pattern.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein:

the at least one feature of the target layout pattern includes an edge; and

operating the processor to align the target layout pattern and the virtual fragmentation grid results in the orthogonal gridlines being orthogonal to the edge.

14. The method of claim 11 , wherein operating the processor to process the fragment data set comprises:

operating the processor to perform OPC on the fragment data set to obtain a corrected data set; and

operating the processor to fracture the corrected data set.

15. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

manufacturing a semiconductor device using the photolithography mask.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

operating the processor to select, from the target layout pattern, at least one other feature; and

operating the processor to fragment the at least one other feature using a fragmentation scheme that does not rely on the virtual fragmentation grid.

17. A computer-executable program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the program comprising computer-executable instructions for performing optical proximity correction (OPC) for photolithography applications, the program comprising:

instructions for obtaining a target layout pattern corresponding to a mask pattern for a photolithography mask;

instructions for providing a fragmentation grid that is independent of the target layout pattern, wherein the fragmentation grid comprises a plurality of orthogonal gridlines; and

instructions for fragmenting at least one feature of the target layout pattern along the plurality of orthogonal gridlines to obtain a fragment data set.

18. The program of claim 17 , further comprising instructions for defining polygons in a mask-writer-compatible format, using the fragment data set.

19. The program of claim 17 , further comprising:

instructions for aligning the target layout pattern and the fragmentation grid relative to each other such that the plurality of orthogonal gridlines are orthogonal to an edge of the at least one feature of the target layout pattern.

20. A semiconductor device fabrication method comprising:

providing a target layout pattern that represents a corresponding mask pattern;

performing grid-based optical proximity correction (OPC) fragmentation on at least one feature of the target layout pattern using a fragmentation grid that is independent of the target layout pattern, wherein the fragmentation grid comprises orthogonal gridlines;

in response to performing the grid-based OPC fragmentation, obtaining a fragment data set for the target layout pattern;

creating a photolithography mask using the fragment data set; and

fabricating at least one semiconductor device using the photolithography mask.