Optical Proximity Correction on Hardware or Software Platforms with Graphical Processing Units

• US 20070130559A1
• Filed: 12/01/2006
• Published: 06/07/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: D2S, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Gauda, Inc. (D2S, Inc.)
• Inventors: Karakas, Ahmet, Torunoglu, Ilhami
• Granted Patent: US 7,546,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/53
• 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

Optical proximity correction techniques performed on one or more graphics processors improve the masks used for the printing of microelectronic circuit designs. Execution of OPC techniques on hardware or software platforms utilizing graphics processing units. GPUs may share the computation load with the system CPUs to efficiently and effectively execute the OPC method steps.

Claims

1. A system comprising:

a computing system comprising at least one central processing unit and at least one graphics processing unit;

a user interface for interacting with the computer system;

a computer readable medium comprising data describing the size and placement of features to be formed on a photolithography exposure mask used to manufacture semiconductor devices;

a computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures for acting upon the data, wherein at least a portion of the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are executed using the graphics processing unit; and

output devices for displaying the results of applying the optical proximity correction calculation procedures executed using the graphics processing unit upon the data.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a vertex processor unit and a fragment processor unit.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a vertex processor unit and a stencil buffer.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the graphics processing unit further comprises a stencil buffer.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the graphics processing unit further comprises a video processor unit.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a vertex processor unit, fragment processor unit, stencil buffer, and video processor unit.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are shared between the central processing unit and the graphics processing unit.

8. The system of claim 7 wherein the at least one graphics processing unit is replaced by at least one of a physics processor, cell processors, digital signal processor, or application specific integrated circuit.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein graphics processing units and the optical proximity correction calculation procedures comprise at least one of:

procedures for allocation of vertex shaders for evaluation point selection;

procedures for allocation of vertex shaders for modification of evaluation points and their location;

procedures for allocation of rasterization for determining the evaluation points based on one-dimensional and two-dimensional cost functions;

procedures for allocation of pixel and vertex shaders for intensity calculations including spatial or frequency-domain approaches to calculate intensity or electromagnetic fields, or a combination, in air or in the other media including resist materials and on a chip surface;

procedures for allocation of pixel shaders for intensity and electromagnetic field calculations in air and in the resist material as well as other related locations on the chip surface including memory lookups or fast kernel calculations;

procedures for allocation of pixel shaders for intensity calculations using other methods of calculating intensity or electromagnetic fields, or a combination, such as convolution in frequency domain using fast fourier transforms and inverse fourier transforms or any other transforms to the same effect in air or in the resist material as well as other related locations on the chip surface;

procedures for allocation of pixel shaders for intensity calculations using fast kernel lookups or fast kernel calculations;

procedures for allocation of pixel shaders for intensity calculations using light lookups or light calculations;

procedures for allocation of depth filters for area query and tagging of edges and edge fragments;

procedures for pixel shader computation of evaluation points;

procedures for mapping of convolution tables as texture maps;

procedures for the use of texture interpolation for optimizing texture cache use;

procedures for the use of a depth processor for the selection of evaluation points;

or procedures for the use of a single input multiple data (SIMD) video processor for computing error terms.

10. The system of claim 1 wherein in intensity calculation procedures, area search procedures, and placement error calculation procedures of an optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using a fragment processor unit of the graphics processing unit.

11. The system of claim 1 wherein in intensity calculation procedures, area search procedures, and optimization cost function calculations including edge placement error calculation procedures of an optical proximity correction procedure are executed using a fragment processor unit of the graphics processing unit.

12. The system of claim 10 wherein geometric operation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using the central processing unit.

13. The system of claim 10 wherein geometric operation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using a vertex processor unit of the graphics processing unit.

14. The system of claim 10 wherein geometric operation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using the fragment processor unit of the graphics processing unit

15. The system of claim 10 wherein rectangle fragmentation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using the central processing unit.

16. The system of claim 10 wherein rectangle fragmentation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using a vertex processor unit of the graphics processing unit.

17. The system of claim 10 wherein rectangle fragmentation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using the fragment processor unit of the graphics processing unit.

18. The system of claim 10 wherein geometric operation and rectangle fragmentation procedures of the optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using the central processing unit.

19. The system of claim 1 wherein area search procedures of an optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using a stencil buffer of the graphics processing unit.

20. The system of claim 1 wherein placement error procedures of an optical proximity correction calculation procedure are executed using a video processor of the graphics processing unit.

21. The system of claim 1 wherein a two-dimensional trapezoidal shape of the data is represented as four-channel data in the graphics processing unit.

22. The system of claim 1 wherein X and Y coordinates for two opposite corners of a two-dimensional trapezoidal shape of the data is represented in a RGBA color space format in the graphics processing unit.

23. The system of claim 1 wherein X and Y coordinates for a corner, a width, and a height of a two-dimensional trapezoidal shape of the data is represented in a RGBA color space format in the graphics processing unit.

24. The system of claim 1 wherein X and Y coordinates for a corner, a change in X, and a change in Y of a two-dimensional trapezoidal shape of the data is represented in a RGBA color space format in the graphics processing unit.

25. The system of claim 1 wherein X and Y coordinates for a corner, an angle, and a scalar of a two-dimensional trapezoidal shape of the data is represented in a RGBA color space format in the graphics processing unit.

26. A method comprising:

providing a system comprising at least one central processing unit and at least one graphics processing unit;

separating an optical proximity correction process into tasks depending on a type of computation required;

allocating the tasks of the optical proximity correction process to the central processing unit or the graphics processing unit; and

delivering output of the central processing unit and the graphics processing unit as a result of the optical proximity corrections process.

27. The system of claim 26 wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a vertex processor unit and a fragment processor unit.

28. The system of claim 26 wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a vertex processor unit and a stencil buffer.

29. The system of claim 27 wherein the graphics processing unit further comprises a stencil buffer.

30. The system of claim 27 wherein the graphics processing unit further comprises a video processor unit.

31. The system of claim 26 wherein the graphics processing unit comprises a vertex processor unit, fragment processor unit, stencil buffer, and video processor unit.

32. The method of claim 26 wherein the at least one graphics processing unit is replaced by at least one of a physics processor, cell processors, digital signal processor, or application specific integrated circuit.

33. The method of claim 26 wherein the allocating the tasks comprises at least one of:

allocating vertex shaders for evaluation point selection;

allocating vertex shaders for modification of evaluation points and their location;

allocating rasterization for determining the evaluation points based on one-dimensional and two-dimensional cost functions;

allocating pixel shaders for intensity calculations using fast kernel lookups or fast kernel calculations;

allocating pixel shaders for intensity calculations using light lookups or light calculations;

allocating depth filters for area query and tagging of edges and edge fragments;

using pixel shaders for computation of evaluation points;

mapping of convolution tables as texture maps;

using texture interpolation for optimizing texture cache use;

using a depth processor for the selection of evaluation points;

or using a single input multiple data (SIMD) video processor for computing error terms.

34. A system comprising:

a computing system comprising a plurality of nodes, wherein each node comprises at least one of at least one central processing unit or at least one graphics processing unit;

an interface to couple the plurality of nodes together;

a user interface for interacting with the computer system;

a computer readable medium comprising data describing the size and placement of features to be formed on a photolithography exposure mask used to manufacture semiconductor devices; and

a computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures for acting upon the data, wherein at least a portion of the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are executed using the graphics processing unit in one of the nodes.

35. The system of claim 34 wherein the interface comprises at least on of a PCI Express bus, AGP bus, front side bus, Ethernet, or the Internet.

36. The system of claim 34 wherein the computer readable medium comprising data describing the size and placement of features to be formed on a photolithography exposure mask used to manufacture semiconductor devices is directly coupled to one of the plurality of nodes and a portion of the data are passed through the interface to at least one other node.

37. The system of claim 34 wherein the computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures for acting upon the data is directly coupled to one of the plurality of nodes, and at least a portion of the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are executed using the graphics processing unit on a different node from which the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are directly coupled.

38. The system of claim 34 wherein the computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures for acting upon the data is directly coupled to one of the plurality of nodes, and at least a portion of the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are executed using the graphics processing unit of the node to which the optical proximity correction calculation procedures are directly coupled.

39. The system of claim 34 comprising:

a computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures to split given layout information into two-dimensional subregions, where these subregion overlap with each other.

40. The system of claim 39 comprising:

a computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures to transfer the given layout information split-up into two-dimensional subregions to two or more nodes; and

a computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures executing on the two or more nodes to operate on the given layout information split-up into two-dimensional subregions.

41. The system of claim 40 comprising:

a computer readable medium comprising optical proximity correction calculation procedures to combine results from a first node and a second node on the given layout information split-up into two-dimensional subregions.

42. The system of claim 41 wherein the optical proximity correction calculation procedures to combine results comprises stitching together the results by removing the overlapping regions.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the stitching is performed by a single node.

44. The system of claim 42 wherein the stitching is performed by multiple nodes.