Integration of OPC and Mask Data Preparation for Reduced Data I/O and Reduced Cycle Time

摘要

As process geometries continue to shrink to the 45nm node and beyond, the resulting increases in design complexity and chip pattern density have fueled a data explosion on advanced semiconductor designs. This extends product development cycles and potentially impacts product yield. Two areas in the design flow that are most adversely affected include both mask synthesis (OPC, RET) and Mask Data Preparation. Minimizing data I/O and providing an integrated optical proximity correction (OPC) and mask data preparation solution (MDP), plays an increasingly critical role in reducing the mask synthesis and mask data prep total cycle time. In this paper, an integrated flow of Proteus OPC and CATS MDP are discussed. This integrated flow virtually eliminates the data I/O step between OPC and MDP pre-processing and delivers faster total turn around time by effectively eliminating the time originally spent on MDP pre-processing. The integrated flow and its turn around time performance will be presented.