DESIGN LAYOUT PATTERN PROXIMITY CORRECTION THROUGH EDGE PLACEMENT ERROR PREDICTION
First Claim
1. A method of determining a layout of a lithography mask for an integrated circuit fabrication etch process, the method comprising:
- (a) receiving a starting lithography mask layout for a feature to be etched in a partially fabricated integrated circuit;
(b) obtaining an in-feature plasma flux condition for at least one location within the feature to be etched or within an opening in the mask over the feature, wherein the in-feature plasma flux condition is predicted to be produced during the integrated circuit fabrication etch process;
(c) identifying an in-feature edge placement error for the feature by applying the plasma flux condition to a lookup table or a model that provides predictions of in-feature edge placement error caused by the integrated circuit fabrication etch process within the feature, wherein applying the plasma flux condition to the lookup table or the model identifies one or more putative values of in-feature edge placement error that correspond to the in-feature plasma flux condition; and
(d) modifying a position of the starting lithography mask layout for the feature to compensate for the in-feature edge placement error identified in (c) by applying the plasma flux condition to the look up table or the model.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
Disclosed are methods of generating a proximity-corrected design layout for photoresist to be used in an etch operation. The methods may include identifying a feature in an initial design layout, and estimating one or more quantities characteristic of an in-feature plasma flux (IFPF) within the feature during the etch operation. The methods may further include estimating a quantity characteristic of an edge placement error (EPE) of the feature by comparing the one or more quantities characteristic of the IFPF to those in a look-up table (LUT, and/or through application of a multivariate model trained on the LUT, e.g., constructed through machine learning methods (MLM)) which associates values of the quantity characteristic of EPE with values of the one or more quantities characteristics of the IFPF. Thereafter, the initial design layout may be modified based on at the determined quantity characteristic of EPE.
-
Citations
26 Claims
-
1. A method of determining a layout of a lithography mask for an integrated circuit fabrication etch process, the method comprising:
-
(a) receiving a starting lithography mask layout for a feature to be etched in a partially fabricated integrated circuit; (b) obtaining an in-feature plasma flux condition for at least one location within the feature to be etched or within an opening in the mask over the feature, wherein the in-feature plasma flux condition is predicted to be produced during the integrated circuit fabrication etch process; (c) identifying an in-feature edge placement error for the feature by applying the plasma flux condition to a lookup table or a model that provides predictions of in-feature edge placement error caused by the integrated circuit fabrication etch process within the feature, wherein applying the plasma flux condition to the lookup table or the model identifies one or more putative values of in-feature edge placement error that correspond to the in-feature plasma flux condition; and (d) modifying a position of the starting lithography mask layout for the feature to compensate for the in-feature edge placement error identified in (c) by applying the plasma flux condition to the look up table or the model. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
-
-
13. A computer system for determining a layout of a lithography mask for an integrated circuit fabrication etch process, the system comprising:
-
one or more processors, and a memory, the memory storing computer-readable instructions for execution on the one or more processors, including instructions for; (a) receiving a starting lithography mask layout for a feature to be etched in a partially fabricated integrated circuit; (b) obtaining an in-feature plasma flux condition for at least one location within the feature to be etched or within an opening in the mask over the feature, wherein the in-feature plasma flux condition is predicted to be produced during the integrated circuit fabrication etch process; (c) identifying an in-feature edge placement error for the feature by applying the plasma flux condition to a lookup table or a model that provides predictions of in-feature edge placement error caused by the integrated circuit fabrication etch process within the feature, wherein applying the plasma flux condition to the lookup table or the model identifies one or more putative values of in-feature edge placement error that correspond to the in-feature plasma flux condition; and (d) modifying a position of the starting lithography mask layout for the feature to compensate for the in-feature edge placement error identified in (c) by applying the plasma flux condition to the look up table or the model. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26)
-
Specification