STRUCTURE AND METHODOLOGY FOR FABRICATION AND INSPECTION OF PHOTOMASKS

• US 20100162196A1
• Filed: 03/08/2010
• Published: 06/24/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/05/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GlobalFoundries, Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Watts, Andrew J., Rankin, Jed H.
• Granted Patent: US 8,423,918 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/55
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/84 Inspecting

Abstract

A photomask, method of designing, of fabricating, of designing, a method of inspecting and a system for designing the photomask. The photomask, includes: a cell region, the cell region comprising one or more chip regions, each chip region comprising a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions corresponding to features of an integrated circuit chip and one or more kerf regions, each kerf region comprising a pattern of opaque and clear sub-regions corresponding to features of an integrated circuit kerf; a clear region formed adjacent to a side of a copy region, the copy region comprising opaque and clear sub-regions that are copies of at least a part of the cell region; and an opaque region between the clear region and the cell region.

Claims

1. A method of designing a photomask, comprising:

generating a chip dataset representing an integrated circuit chip design to be included in a cell region of said photomask;

generating a kerf dataset representing a kerf design to be included in said cell region;

determining a portion of said kerf dataset to copy;

generating a kerf copy dataset, said kerf copy dataset including said portion of said kerf dataset to copy;

merging said chip dataset, said kerf dataset and said kerf copy dataset into a photomask dataset representing a pattern of clear and opaque regions of said photomask.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said merging places a pattern of clear and opaque regions defined by said chip dataset and by said kerf dataset in said cell region of said photomask and further places a pattern of clear and opaque regions defined by said kerf copy dataset in clear bar regions of said photomask.

3. The method of claim 1, further including generating a write file containing coded instructions for controlling operation of a tool for transferring said photomask dataset representing said pattern of clear and opaque regions onto a blank mask substrate of a photomask fabrication line.

4. The method of claim 1, further including:

prior to said merging, determining a portion of said chip dataset to copy and generating a chip copy dataset, said chip copy dataset including said portion of said chip dataset to copy; and

said merging also including merging said chip copy dataset into said photomask dataset.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said merging also places a pattern of opaque and clear regions defined by said chip copy dataset in said clear bar regions of said photomask.

6. The method of claim 4, further including generating a write file containing coded instructions for controlling operation of a tool for transferring said photomask dataset representing said pattern of clear and opaque regions onto a blank mask substrate of a photomask fabrication line.

7. A computer system comprising a processor, an address/data bus coupled to said processor, and a computer-readable memory unit coupled to communicate with said processor, said memory unit containing instructions that when executed implement a method for method of designing a photomask, said method comprising the computer implemented steps of:

generating a chip dataset representing an integrated circuit chip design to be included in a cell region of said photomask;

generating a kerf dataset representing a kerf design to be included in said cell region;

determining a portion of said kerf dataset to copy;

generating a kerf copy dataset, said kerf copy dataset including said portion of said kerf dataset to copy;

merging said chip dataset, said kerf dataset and said kerf copy dataset into a photomask dataset representing a pattern of clear and opaque regions of said photomask.

8. The computer system of claim 7, wherein said merging places a pattern of clear and opaque regions defined by said chip dataset and by said kerf dataset in said cell region of said photomask and further places a pattern of clear and opaque regions defined by said kerf copy dataset in clear bar regions of said photomask.

9. The computer system of claim 7, wherein said method further includes generating a write file containing coded instructions for controlling operation of a tool for transferring said photomask dataset representing said pattern of clear and opaque regions onto a blank mask substrate of a photomask fabrication line.

10. The computer system of claim 7, said method further including:

prior to said merging, determining a portion of said chip dataset to copy and generating a chip copy dataset, said chip copy dataset including said portion of said chip dataset to copy; and

said merging also including merging said chip copy dataset into said photomask dataset.

11. The computer system of claim 10, wherein said merging also places a pattern of opaque and clear regions defined by said chip copy dataset in said clear bar regions of said photomask.

12. The computer system of claim 10, said method further including generating a write file containing coded instructions for controlling operation of a tool for transferring said photomask dataset representing said pattern of clear and opaque regions onto a blank mask substrate of a photomask fabrication line.