METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR LAYOUT ENHANCEMENT BASED ON INTER-CELL CORRELATION

• US 20200133117A1
• Filed: 08/12/2019
• Published: 04/30/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 10/31/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: CHU, WEI-LIN, TSENG, HSIN-LUN, HUANG, SHENG-WEN, HUANG, CHIH-CHUNG, TSAI, CHI-MING
• Granted Patent: US 11,079,672 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/22 Masks or mask blanks for imaging by radiation of 100nm or shorter wavelength, e.g. X-ray masks, extreme ultraviolet [EUV] masks; Preparation thereof
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/36 Masks having proximity correction features; Preparation thereof, e.g. optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 1/70 Adapting basic layout or design of masks to lithographic process requirements, e.g., second iteration correction of mask patterns for imaging
• CPC Class Codes: G03F 7/2004 characterised by the use of a particular light source, e.g. fluorescent lamps or deep UV light
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/392 Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 20/00 Machine learning

Abstract

A method and a system of performing layout enhancement include: providing a first design layout comprising a plurality of cells; updating a first cell in the plurality of cells using optical proximity correction to provide a first updated cell and a data set; updating a second cell from remaining cells in the first design layout based on the data set to provide a second updated cell; and manufacturing a mask based on the first updated cell and the second updated cell in the first design layout.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

providing a first design layout comprising a plurality of cells;

updating a first cell in the plurality of cells using optical proximity correction to provide a first updated cell and a data set;

updating a second cell from remaining cells in the first design layout based on the data set to provide a second updated cell; and

manufacturing a mask based on the first updated cell and the second updated cell in the first design layout.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising manufacturing a semiconductor device using the mask.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein manufacturing a semiconductor device using the mask comprises transferring patterns of the mask to a semiconductor material using extreme ultraviolet light lithography.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the plurality of cells in the first design layout are arranged in an array, further comprising selecting a cell having a minimal distance to a geometric center of the array as the first cell.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein updating a second cell from remaining cells in the first design layout comprises:

partitioning a polygon of the second cell into a plurality of edge segments;

deriving updated edge segments corresponding to the plurality of edge segments based on the data set; and

providing an updated polygon constructed by the updated edge segments to replace the polygon.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising training a model based on a layout-dependent parameter of a second design layout, wherein updating a second cell from remaining cells in the first design layout further comprises updating the second cell based on the model.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the layout-dependent parameter comprises an exposure intensity value for edge segments of cells in the second design layout.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the layout-dependent parameter comprises pattern types and distances of neighboring polygons with respect to edge segments of cells in the second design layout.

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein the layout-dependent parameter comprises a distance between different cells in the second design layout.

10. The method according to claim 6, wherein the model comprises an input layer, a hidden layer and an output layer, and the hidden layer comprises nodes, wherein training the model comprises obtaining converged values of the nodes of the hidden layer.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein obtaining converged values of the nodes of the hidden layer comprises:

partitioning polygon contours of cells in the second design layouts into edge segments;

selecting a model type and number of layers for the model; and

iterating the loop of providing information on edge segments before lithography enhancement and information on edge segments after lithography enhancement to the input layer and the output layer, respectively, until the values of nodes of the hidden layer attains convergence in terms of a cost function.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein deriving updated edge segments based on the model comprises assigning information on an edge segment of the second cell as the input layer and obtaining information on an enhanced edge segment at the output layer with the hidden layer set as the converged values.

13. A method, comprising:

providing a design layout comprising a plurality of cells;

performing a lithography enhancement operation on a first cell in the plurality of cells to provide a first updated cell;

deriving a data set based on the updated cell for the first cell;

providing a model comprising a mapping of cells before lithography enhancement and after lithography enhancement;

updating a second cell in the plurality of cells by reshaping polygons of the second cell based on the data set and the model to provide a second updated cell; and

manufacturing a mask based on the first updated cell and the second updated cell.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the lithography enhancement operation performed on the first cell is performed in the absence of information on the remaining cells in the design layout.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein the data set includes a mapping of exposure intensity values of an edge segment and a topology surrounding the edge segment in the first cell to a location of an updated edge segment, corresponding to the edge segment, in the updated first cell.

16. The method according to claim 13, further comprising generating the model obtained based on after-development inspection contour images of patterns in another design layout.

17. The method according to claim 13, wherein updating a second cell in the plurality of cells further comprises performing the lithography enhancement operation without using light transmission or exposure models for lithography.

18. A system, comprising one or more processors and one or more programs including instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to:

provide a design layout comprising a plurality of cells;

update a first cell in the plurality of cells using optical proximity correction to provide an updated cell and a data set;

update a second cell in the design layout based on the data set to provide a second updated cell; and

manufacture a mask based on the first updated cell and the second updated cell in the design layout.

19. The system according to claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to construct an enhancement model configured to update the second cell.

20. The system according to claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the system to perform logical operations on the plurality of cells prior to updating the first cell.