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.

Date of Patent:
Sep. 12, 2017

Filed:

Jan. 20, 2015
Applicant:

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsin-Chu, TW;

Inventors:

Cheng-Chi Wu, Hsin-Chu, TW;

Jensen Yang, Hsin-Chu, TW;

Wen-Chuan Wang, Hsin-Chu, TW;

Shy-Jay Lin, Hsin-Chu, TW;

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/50 (2006.01); H01J 37/302 (2006.01); H01J 37/317 (2006.01); G03F 7/20 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
H01J 37/3026 (2013.01); G06F 17/5081 (2013.01); H01J 37/3174 (2013.01); G03F 7/2051 (2013.01); G03F 7/70058 (2013.01); H01J 2237/3175 (2013.01);
Abstract

A system and method for maskless direct write lithography are disclosed. The method includes receiving a plurality of pixels that represent an integrated circuit (IC) layout; identifying a first subset of the pixels that are suitable for a first compression method; and identifying a second subset of the pixels that are suitable for a second compression method. The method further includes compressing the first and second subset using the first and second compression method respectively, resulting in compressed data. The method further includes delivering the compressed data to a maskless direct writer for manufacturing a substrate. In embodiments, the first compression method uses a run-length encoding and the second compression method uses a dictionary-based encoding. Due to the hybrid compression method, the compressed data can be decompressed with a data rate expansion ratio sufficient for high-volume IC manufacturing.


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