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:
May. 08, 2012
Filed:
Jan. 06, 2009
Ioana Graur, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Geng Han, Fishkill, NY (US);
Scott M. Mansfield, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Michael Scaman, Goshen, NY (US);
Ioana Graur, Poughkeepsie, NY (US);
Geng Han, Fishkill, NY (US);
Scott M. Mansfield, Hopewell Junction, NY (US);
Michael Scaman, Goshen, NY (US);
International Business Machines Corporation, Armonk, NY (US);
Abstract
A method is provided for calibrating a model of a lithographic process that includes defining a parameter space of lithographic model parameters that are expected in an integrated circuit layout. The parameter space is defined according to bin values of a lithographic model parameter that span the range from a predetermined minimum and maximum value of the model parameter. The bin values may be incremented uniformly between the maximum and minimum parameter values, or may be distributed according to a weighting. The lithographic model is calibrated to an initial calibration test pattern. The resulting simulated calibration pattern is evaluated to determine whether the model parameter space is adequately populated. If the parameter space is over or under populated, the calibration pattern is modified until the calibration pattern test values adequately populate the parameter space, so that the final calibrated lithographic process model will more reliably predict images over the full range of image parameters.