The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Feb. 13, 2007
Filed:
Oct. 15, 2002
Hua-yu Liu, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Christophe Pierrat, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Kent Richardson, Mountain View, CA (US);
Hua-Yu Liu, Palo Alto, CA (US);
Christophe Pierrat, Santa Clara, CA (US);
Kent Richardson, Mountain View, CA (US);
Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, CA (US);
Abstract
Methods and apparatuses for preparing layouts and masks that use phase shifting to enable production of subwavelength features on an integrated circuit in close (optical) proximity to other structures are described. One embodiment selects from several strategies for resolving conflicts between phase shifters used to define features and (optically) proximate structures that are being defined other than by phase shifting. One embodiment adds additional phase shifters to define the conflicting structures. Another embodiment corrects the shape of the phase shifters in proximity to a conflicting structure. Resulting integrated circuits can include a greater number of subwavelength features even in areas that are in close proximity to structures that were not initially identified for production using a phase shifting mask.