Incremental critical area computation for VLSI yield prediction
First Claim
1. A computer implemented method for critical area computation of defects in VLSI circuit manufacturing comprising the steps of:
- a) retrieving a design layer containing a plurality of design shapes;
b) retrieving a list of defect sizes ordered in increasing size;
c) determining seed critical regions for said design layer;
d) listing said determined seed critical regions in an ordered list in order of increasing critical radius;
e) identifying all seed critical regions having a critical radius less than a minimum defect size and removing each said identified seed critical region from said ordered list; and
f) generating an actual critical region for each said identified seed critical region.
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Abstract
An efficient method to compute critical area for shorts and breaks in rectilinear layouts in Very Large Scale Integrated (VLSI) circuits. The method is incremental and works in the L.sub.∞ geometry and has three major steps: Compute critical area for rectilinear layouts for both extra material and missing material defects (i.e., shorts and opens) by modeling defects as squares (which corresponds to the L.sub.∞ metric) instead of circles (Euclidean geometry). Treat the critical region for shorts and opens between any two edges or corners of the layout as a rectangle that grows uniformly as the defect radius increases. This is valid for rectilinear layouts and square defects (L.sub.∞ metric) . Use an incremental critical area algorithm for shorts and opens, which are computed for rectilinear layouts assuming square defects. Non-rectilinear layouts are approximated, first, by a rectilinear layout using a shape processing tool. The critical area for the rectilinear approximation is computed using the preferred incremental method.
48 Citations
10 Claims
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1. A computer implemented method for critical area computation of defects in VLSI circuit manufacturing comprising the steps of:
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a) retrieving a design layer containing a plurality of design shapes; b) retrieving a list of defect sizes ordered in increasing size; c) determining seed critical regions for said design layer; d) listing said determined seed critical regions in an ordered list in order of increasing critical radius; e) identifying all seed critical regions having a critical radius less than a minimum defect size and removing each said identified seed critical region from said ordered list; and f) generating an actual critical region for each said identified seed critical region. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for analyzing defect critical areas of integrated circuit chips, said system comprising:
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means for storing a plurality of design shapes on a design layer; means for determining seed critical regions for said stored design shapes; means for organizing said determined seed critical regions according to a critical radius; means for selectively eliminating all seed critical regions less than a minimum defect size; and means for generating an actual critical region for each remaining said seed critical region. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10)
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Specification