Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Comp. Ltd.

Zi-Kuan Li

Tseng Chin Lo

Bo-Sen Chang

Chih-Ting Sun

Molly Chang

Geng-He Lin

Ya-Wen Tseng

Provided is a method for inserting a pre-designed filler cell, as a replacement to a standard filler cell, including identifying at least one gap among a plurality of functional cells. In some embodiments, a pre-designed filler cell is inserted within the at least one gap. By way of example, the pre-designed filler cell includes a layout design having a pattern associated with a particular failure mode. In various embodiments, a layer is patterned on a semiconductor substrate such that the pattern of the layout design is transferred to the layer on the semiconductor substrate. Thereafter, the patterned layer is inspected using an electron beam (e-beam) inspection process.

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Hsinchu, Taiwan

Zi-Kuan Li