Synopsys, Inc.

Zachary Adam Levinson

Yudhishthir Prasad Kandel

Ulrich Welling

Ulrich Karl Klostermann

Kevin D Lucas

Yunqiang Zhang

In some aspects, a mask pattern is accessed. The mask pattern is for use in a lithography process that prints a pattern on a wafer. The mask pattern is applied as input to a deterministic model of the lithography process to predict a characteristic of the printed pattern. The deterministic model is deterministic, but it accounts for local stochastic variations of the characteristic in the printed pattern.

Stochastic-aware lithographic models for mask synthesis

A method of improving mask data used in fabrication of a semiconductor device includes, in part, setting a threshold value associated with a defect based on stochastic failure rate of the defect, performing a first optimal proximity correction (OPC) of the mask data using nominal values of mask pattern contours, identifying locations within the first OPC mask data where stochastically determined mask pattern contours may lead to the defect, placing check figures on the identified locations to enable measurement of distances between the stochastically determined mask pattern contours, and performing a second OPC of the first OPC mask data so as to cause the measured distances to be greater than the threshold value.

Stochastic optical proximity corrections

Calibrating stochastic signals in compact modeling is provided by obtaining data of process variations in producing a resist mask; calibrating a continuous compact model of the resist mask based on the data; evaluating the continuous compact model against a stochastic compact model that is based on the data; choosing a functional description of an edge location distribution for the stochastic compact model; mapping image parameters from the evaluation to edge distribution parameters according to the functional description; determining an edge location range for the stochastic compact model based on scaled measurements from the image parameters; calibrating a threshold for the resist mask and updating parameters of the stochastic compact model to reduce a difference between the data and a modeled Line Edge Roughness (LER) value; and outputting the stochastic compact model.

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Austin, TX, United States of America

Zachary Adam Levinson