International Business Machines Corporation

Yea-Sen Lin

Anthony F Coneski

Alexander C Wei

George B Vandergheynst

George B Vander Gheynst

Ramon E De La Cruz

A method for implementing optical rule checking to identify and quantify corner rounding errors includes receiving corner rounding data based on established ground rules; determining a simulated shape for a semiconductor device feature produced on a wafer, the simulated shape based on a designed shape for the semiconductor device feature; selecting a corner feature associated with the designed shape, and drawing one or more triangles at the selected corner feature. For each triangle, the presence or absence of an intersection between the triangle and the simulated shape is determined, wherein a degree of corner rounding is determined by a pair of successively sized triangles for which one of the pair intersects with the simulated shape and the other does not; and comparing the determined corner rounding with the corner rounding data for the designed shape to determine whether the simulated shape results in a rule violation.

System and method for implementing optical rule checking to identify and quantify corner rounding errors

A system for machining and for verifying the machining of substrates includes an energy beam located to impinge upon machined features of the substrates and a photodiode switching circuit matrix for detecting those portions of the energy beam which impinge upon the machined features of the substrate. The photodiode switching circuits include a current boost resistor in parallel with the photodiode which allows greater current to flow through the output diode, thereby increasing its switching speed. Pairs of photodiode circuits of the array are sequentially energized so that dual strings of outputs are produced. These outputs are then multiplexed and digitized. The digital outputs are compared in a verifier controller with a predetermined set of data to determine accuracy of the machining process. Substrates to be machined and verified can be mounted on a single X-Y table so that the machining and verification processes can be accomplished simultaneously.

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Yea-Sen Lin