Caching of lithography and etch simulation results

• US 20040019872A1
• Filed: 07/24/2002
• Published: 01/29/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/24/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Siemens Industry Software Limited (Siemens AG)
• Original Assignee: Mentor Graphics Corporation (Siemens AG)
• Inventors: Todd, Robert, Cobb, Nick, Lippincott, George
• Granted Patent: US 6,973,633 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/21
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/36 Masks having proximity correction features; Preparation thereof, e.g. optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/39 Circuit design at the physical level physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347

Abstract

One or more control points are identified within a reticle layout that is used in a simulation of a manufacturing process for an integrated device layer. Further, a current geometrical layout pattern is determined in the vicinity of the control points, and a cache is searched for a matching geometrical layout pattern. If the search is successful, a simulation result associated with the matching geometrical layout pattern is retrieved from the cache and reused for the current geometrical layout pattern. Alternatively, if the search is unsuccessful, a simulation result associated with the current geometrical design pattern is computed and stored in the cache for future reuse.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying one or more control points within a reticle layout used in a simulation of a manufacturing process for an integrated device layer;

determining a geometrical layout pattern in the vicinity of the one or more control points;

searching a cache for data identifying the geometrical layout pattern; and

retrieving a simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern from the cache when finding the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining that the cache does not store the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern;

calculating the simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern; and

storing the simulation result with the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache for reuse in subsequent simulations during an optical and process correction (OPC) of the reticle layout.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the cache is any one of a lookup table, a tree data structure, a sparse matrix data structure and a hash table.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the simulation result is at least one of an intensity value, an edge placement error, a rotation value, and an edge slope deviation value.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is a portion of geometry contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the portion of geometry is at least one of a polygon and a sub-polygon.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the sub-polygon is any one of an edge, a trapezoid, a rectangle, and a triangle.

9. The method of claim 6 wherein the simulation result is a convolution value associated with the portion of geometry.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern includes a set of coordinates of portions of the geometrical layout pattern, the set of coordinates identifying positions of the portions relative to the one or more control points.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the one or more control points represent a group of points; and

the simulation result includes a set of computation values, each of the set of computation values corresponding to a specific point within the group of control points.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein:

the one or more control points represent a group of points; and

the simulation result includes a cumulative computation value corresponding to the entire group of control points.

13. A machine-readable medium having stored thereon sequences of instructions that, when executed, cause one or more electronic systems to:

identify one or more control points within a reticle layout used in a simulation of a manufacturing process for an integrated device layer;

determine a geometrical layout pattern in the vicinity of the one or more control points;

search a cache for data identifying the geometrical layout pattern; and

retrieve a simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern from the cache when finding the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache.

14. The machine-readable medium of claim 13 further comprising sequences of instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more electronic systems to:

determine that the cache does not store the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern;

calculate the simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern; and

store the simulation result with the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache for reuse in subsequent simulations during an optical and process correction (OPC) of the reticle layout.

15. The machine-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15 wherein the simulation result is at least one of an intensity value, an edge placement error, a rotation value, and an edge slope deviation value.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 13 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is a portion of geometry contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

18. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the portion of geometry is at least one of a polygon and a sub-polygon.

19. The machine-readable medium of claim 17 wherein the simulation result is a convolution value associated with the portion of geometry.

20. A computer data signal embodied in a data communications medium shared among a plurality of network devices comprising sequences of instructions that, when executed, cause one or more electronic systems to:

identify one or more control points within a reticle layout used in a simulation of a manufacturing process for an integrated device layer;

determine a geometrical layout pattern in the vicinity of the one or more control points;

search a cache for data identifying the geometrical layout pattern; and

retrieve a simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern from the cache when finding the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache.

21. The computer data signal of claim 20 further comprising sequences of instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more electronic systems to:

determine that the cache does not store the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern;

calculate the simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern; and

store the simulation result with the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache for reuse in subsequent simulations during an optical and process correction (OPC) of the reticle layout.

22. The computer data signal of claim 20 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

23. The computer data signal of claim 22 wherein the simulation result is at least one of an intensity value, an edge placement error, a rotation value, and an edge slope deviation value.

24. The computer data signal of claim 20 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is a portion of geometry contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

25. The computer data signal of claim 24 wherein the portion of geometry is at least one of a polygon and a sub-polygon.

26. The computer data signal of claim 24 wherein the simulation result is a convolution value associated with the portion of geometry.

27. A computer system comprising:

a storage medium having stored therein a plurality of programming instructions; and

a processor coupled to the storage medium to execute the programming instructions to identify one or more control points within a reticle layout used in a simulation of a manufacturing process for an integrated device layer, to determine a geometrical layout pattern in the vicinity of the one or more control points, to search a cache for data identifying the geometrical layout pattern, and to retrieve a simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern from the cache when finding the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache.

28. The computer system of claim 27 wherein the processor is further to execute the programming instructions to determine that the cache does not store the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern, to calculate the simulation result associated with the geometrical layout pattern, and to store the simulation result with the data identifying the geometrical layout pattern in the cache for reuse in subsequent simulations during an optical and process correction (OPC) of the reticle layout.

29. The computer system of claim 27 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

30. The computer system of claim 29 wherein the simulation result is at least one of an intensity value, an edge placement error, a rotation value, and an edge slope deviation value.

31. The computer system of claim 27 wherein the geometrical layout pattern is a portion of geometry contained inside a support region that is defined around the one or more control points using an optical radius.

32. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the portion of geometry is at least one of a polygon and a sub-polygon.

33. The computer system of claim 31 wherein the simulation result is a convolution value associated with the portion of geometry.