Modeling OPC complexity for design for manufacturability

Puneet Gupta; Andrew B. Kahng; Swamy Muddu; Sam Nakagawa; Chul-Hong Park

doi:10.1117/12.633416

9 November 2005 Modeling OPC complexity for design for manufacturability

Puneet Gupta, Andrew B. Kahng, Swamy Muddu, Sam Nakagawa, Chul-Hong Park

Proceedings Volume 5992, 25th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology; 59921W (2005) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.633416
Event: SPIE Photomask Technology, 2005, Monterey, California, United States

Abstract

Increasing design complexity in sub-90nm designs results in increased mask complexity and cost. Resolution enhancement techniques (RET) such as assist feature addition, phase shifting (attenuated PSM) and aggressive optical proximity correction (OPC) help in preserving feature fidelity in silicon but increase mask complexity and cost. Data volume increase with rise in mask complexity is becoming prohibitive for manufacturing. Mask cost is determined by mask write time and mask inspection time, which are directly related to the complexity of features printed on the mask. Aggressive RET increase complexity by adding assist features and by modifying existing features. Passing design intent to OPC has been identified as a solution for reducing mask complexity and cost in several recent works. The goal of design-aware OPC is to relax OPC tolerances of layout features to minimize mask cost, without sacrificing parametric yield. To convey optimal OPC tolerances for manufacturing, design optimization should drive OPC tolerance optimization using models of mask cost for devices and wires. Design optimization should be aware of impact of OPC correction levels on mask cost and performance of the design. This work introduces mask cost characterization (MCC) that quantifies OPC complexity, measured in terms of fracture count of the mask, for different OPC tolerances. MCC with different OPC tolerances is a critical step in linking design and manufacturing. In this paper, we present a MCC methodology that provides models of fracture count of standard cells and wire patterns for use in design optimization. MCC cannot be performed by designers as they do not have access to foundry OPC recipes and RET tools. To build a fracture count model, we perform OPC and fracturing on a limited set of standard cells and wire configurations with all tolerance combinations. Separately, we identify the characteristics of the layout that impact fracture count. Based on the fracture count (FC) data from OPC and mask data preparation runs, we build models of FC as function of OPC tolerances and layout parameters.

Citation Download Citation

Puneet Gupta, Andrew B. Kahng, Swamy Muddu, Sam Nakagawa, and Chul-Hong Park "Modeling OPC complexity for design for manufacturability", Proc. SPIE 5992, 25th Annual BACUS Symposium on Photomask Technology, 59921W (9 November 2005); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.633416

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