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:
Jan. 15, 2008
Filed:
May. 06, 2005
Lawrence S. Melvin, Iii, Hillsboro, OR (US);
James P. Shiely, Aloha, OR (US);
Qiliang Yan, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Benjamin D. Painter, Tigard, OR (US);
Lawrence S. Melvin, III, Hillsboro, OR (US);
James P. Shiely, Aloha, OR (US);
Qiliang Yan, Hillsboro, OR (US);
Benjamin D. Painter, Tigard, OR (US);
Synopsys, Inc., Mountain View, unknown;
Abstract
One embodiment of the present invention provides a system that identifies a problem edge in a mask layout which is likely to have manufacturing problems. During operation, the system creates an on-target process model that models a semiconductor manufacturing process under nominal process conditions. The system also creates one or more off-target process models that model the semiconductor manufacturing process under one or more process conditions that are different from nominal process conditions. Next, the system computes a process-sensitivity model using the on-target process model and the off-target process models. The system then computes an edge-detecting process-sensitivity model by convolving the process-sensitivity model with an edge-detecting function which can be used to detect edges in an image. Next, the system identifies a problem edge in the mask layout using the edge-detecting process-sensitivity model.