Method for Local Hot Spot Fixing

• US 20070264731A1
• Filed: 05/15/2007
• Published: 11/15/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/15/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Jeng, Shwang-Ming
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 438/14
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 31/318364 as a result of hardware simulation, e.g. in an HDL environment computer-aided simulation of circuits G06F30/3308
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/398 Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36

Abstract

Efficient and cost-effective systems and methods for detecting and correcting hot spots of semiconductor devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes providing an input file having a device layout; performing a hot spot detection on the input file; and then modifying the device layout based on the hot spots detected to create an output file. In another aspect, a method includes providing an input file having a device layout; selecting a first local region of the device layout; performing a first hot spot detection on the first local region; modifying the first local region based on the hot spots detected to create a first output file; and repeating for other local regions of the device layout. In some aspects, hot spots are detected by comparing parameters of the device layout with a set of hot spot rules to determine if the device layout satisfies the hot spot rules.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

providing an input file in an electronic format in a computer readable medium, wherein the input file comprises a device layout;

performing a hot spot detection on the input file to detect a hot spot in the device layout of the input file; and

modifying the device layout of the input file based on the hot spot detection when a hot spot is detected in the device layout to create an output file.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the performing a hot spot detection comprises comparing at least one parameter of the device layout to at least one of a plurality of hot spot rules to determine if the at least one hot spot rule is violated.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of hot spot rules are stored in a hot spot rules database.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the performing a hot spot detection is performed by a hot spot detector, the hot spot detector in communication with the hot spot rules database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the modifying the device layout is performed at least partially using a computer-aided system.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the modifying the device layout is based on a set of modification guidance parameters.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the modification guidance parameters are based upon the at least one hot spot rule that is violated.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the input file and the output file are in a computer aided design format.

9. The method of claim 2, further comprising calibrating the plurality of hot spot rules.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein calibrating the plurality of hot spot rules comprises comparing a predicted hot spot analysis based on the plurality of hot spot rules to a test wafer and modifying the hot spot rules such that the predicted hot spot analysis and the test wafer are consistent.

11. A method comprising:

providing an input file in an electronic format in a computer readable medium, wherein the input file comprises a device layout;

selecting a first local region of the device layout;

performing a first hot spot detection on the first local region to detect a first hot spot in the first local region of the device layout; and

modifying the first local region of the device layout based on the first hot spot detection when a first hot spot is detected in the first local region.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

selecting a second local region of the device layout;

performing a second hot spot detection on the second local region to detect a second hot spot in the second local region of the device layout; and

modifying the second local region of the device layout based on the second hot spot detection when a second hot spot is detected in the second local region.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the performing the first and second hot spot detections comprises comparing at least one parameter of the first and second local regions of the device layout to at least one of a plurality of hot spot rules to determine if at least one hot spot rule is violated.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the modifying the first and second local regions of the device layout is performed at least partially using a computer-aided system.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the modifying the first and second local regions of the device layout is based on a set of modification guidance parameters.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the modification guidance parameters are based upon the at least one hot spot rule that is violated.

17. The method of claim 12, further comprising

selecting additional local regions of the device layout individually until all local regions of the device layout have been selected;

performing additional hot spot detections on each of the additional local regions to detect additional hot spots in each of the additional local regions of the device layout; and

modifying each of the additional local regions of the device layout based on the additional hot spot detection when an additional hot spot is detected in the additional local region.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

creating output files for each modified device layout based on the hot spot detections.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising

creating an additional output file based on the additional hot spot detection, wherein the additional output file created after all local regions of the device layout have been selected comprises a final output file

20. A method comprising:

providing an input file including a device layout;

comparing at least one parameter of the device layout to at least one of a plurality of hot spot rules to determine if the at least one hot spot rule is violated by the at least one parameter of the device layout;

modifying the device layout of the input file when the at least one parameter of the device layout violates the at least one hot spot rule to avoid violating the at least one hot spot rule, wherein the device layout is modified based upon a plurality of modification guidance parameters that are associated with the plurality of hot spot rules; and

creating an output file based on the modified device layout.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the input file and the output file are in a computer aided design format and wherein the modifying the device layout is performed at least partially using a computer-aided system.