Integrated circuit filler and method thereof

1. A method of semiconductor device fabrication, comprising:

inserting a first standard filler cell and a first pre-designed filler cell in a gap between a first portion of a circuit layout and a second portion of a circuit layout, wherein the first pre-designed filler cell includes a first layout design having a first pattern configured for detection of a first failure mode;

patterning a semiconductor layer such that the first pattern is transferred to the semiconductor layer to provide a patterned semiconductor layer; and

inspecting the patterned semiconductor layer using an electron beam (e-beam) inspection process.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

inserting a second pre-designed filler cell in the gap, wherein the second pre-designed filler cell includes a second layout design having a second pattern configured for detection of a second failure mode; and

patterning the semiconductor layer such that the second pattern is transferred to the semiconductor layer to provide the patterned semiconductor layer.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

identifying the first failure mode in the first portion of the circuit layout; and

inserting the first pre-designed filler cell, wherein the first portion of the circuit layout is adjacent to the first pre-designed filler cell.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:

identifying the second failure mode in the second portion of the circuit layout; and

inserting the second pre-designed filler cell, wherein the second portion of the circuit layout is adjacent to the second pre-designed filler cell.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first failure mode and the second failure mode are the same.

6. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first failure mode and the second failure mode are different.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

as part of a physical design flow, inserting the first pre-designed filler cell after a floorplanning step and as part of a placement step.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

prior to inserting the first pre-designed filler cell, removing a second standard filler cell from the gap; and

inserting the first pre-designed filler cell in the gap.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first pattern of the first pre-designed filler cell includes a repeated pattern array.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

inspecting both of the first standard filler cell and the first pre-designed filler cell using the e-beam inspection process, wherein a first analysis cycle time for inspection of the first pre-designed filler cell is less than a second analysis cycle time for inspection of the first standard filler cell.

11. A method of semiconductor device fabrication, comprising:

identifying a gap between a plurality of functional cells;

replacing a standard filler cell disposed within the gap with a redesigned filler cell, wherein the redesigned filler cell includes a layout pattern associated with a particular failure mode;

patterning a substrate layer such that the layout pattern is transferred to the substrate layer; and

inspecting the patterned layer.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the standard filler cell includes an irregular pattern, and wherein the redesigned filler cell includes a repeated array.

13. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

identifying a failure mode in at least one functional cell of the plurality of functional cells;

selecting the redesigned filler cell having the layout pattern associated with the identified failure mode; and

replacing the standard filler cell with the selected redesigned filler cell.

14. The method of claim 13 , wherein the at least one functional cell is adjacent to the selected redesigned filler cell.

15. The method of claim 11 , wherein the replacing the standard filler cell with the redesigned filler cell is performed as part of at least one of a floorplanning step and a placement step of a physical design flow.

16. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

patterning the substrate layer, wherein the patterning the substrate layer includes:

fabricating a mask including the layout pattern of the redesigned filler cell;

transferring, by way of a photolithography process, the layout pattern from the mask to the substrate layer.

17. The method of claim 11 , wherein the inspecting the patterned layer includes inspecting the patterned layer using an electron beam (e-beam) inspection process.

18. A method, comprising:

inserting a first filler cell and a second filler cell within a gap in a circuit layout, wherein the first filler cell includes a standard filler cell and the second filler cell includes a pre-designed filler cell, wherein the pre-designed filler cell includes a layout design having a pattern associated with a particular failure mode, and wherein the pre-designed filler cell is adjacent to a functional cell identified as including the particular failure mode;

patterning a semiconductor substrate to include the pattern of the layout design; and

performing an electron-beam inspection of the patterned semiconductor substrate.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the performing the electron-beam inspection further includes inspecting both of the standard filler cell and the pre-designed filler cell, wherein a first analysis cycle time for inspection of the pre-designed filler cell is less than a second analysis cycle time for inspection of the standard filler cell.

20. The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

prior to inserting the pre-designed filler cell, removing a third filler cell from the gap; and

inserting the pre-designed filler cell within the gap.