Motorola Corporation

Clyde H Browning

Kevin D Lucas

Bernard J Roman

Alfred J Reich

Michael E Kling

Warren D Grobman

Brian A Engles

Integrated circuit designs are continually shrinking in size. Lithographic processes are used to transfer these designs to a semiconductor substrate. These processes typically require that the exposure wavelength of light be shorter than the smallest dimension of the elements within the circuit design. When this is not the case, exposure energy such as light behaves more like a wave than a particle. Additionally, mask manufacturing, photoresist chemical diffusion, and etch effects cause pattern transfer distortions. The result is that circuit elements do not print as designed. To counter this effect the circuit designs themselves can be altered so that the final printed results better matches the initial desired design. The process of altering designs in this way is called Lithographic Proximity Correction (LPC). Square (142), cross (162), octagon (172), and hammerhead (202) serifs are added to integrated circuit designs by shape manipulation functions to perform two dimensional (2-D) LPC.

Two dimensional lithographic proximity correction using DRC shape

A method and apparatus for providing a mask (200) on a multi-site wafer (100) is accomplished by first creating a first mask key (204) which contains information, such as alignment cues and test structures. A copy of the first mask key is modified to produce a second mask key (201). When the two mask keys are transferred to adjacent sites on the wafer, they physically overlap, preventing double-exposure of the information in the first mask key.

Method for minimizing unwanted metallization in periphery die on a

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Briarcliff, TX, United States of America

Clyde H Browning