A method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate, including obtaining layout information; identifying a rectangular M0 that is only connected to one gate and has no overlapping area with the active region as the first target M0; forming a first region by translating the sides of the first target M0 outward by a preset first distance respectively; identifying a polygon formed by synthesizing the first regions with overlapping areas as the first polygon; and forming a second region by translating the sides of the first polygon inward by a preset second distance respectively, and the second region is the cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on the gate. It can identify a cluster of M0 patterns with a specific quantity, and can also distinguish the relative positions of each M0 pattern in the cluster. The process is simple, and the result is intuitive and accurate, which is beneficial to process improvement and efficiency enhancement.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention belongs to the field of semiconductor design and production, and particularly relates to a method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on a gate. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous advancement of the integrated circuit production process technology node, the design of integrated circuits has become increasingly complex. The mainstream lithography process currently applied to integrated circuit production has a light wave wavelength that has been maintained at 193 nm. In the case where the wavelength of the exposure machine is not updated, the size of the exposed pattern continues to shrink, which will then generate many lithography patterns that meet the design rules but have a poor actual process window, called lithography defect hot spot patterns. Generally, it refers to patterns or combinations of patterns in the layout that have certain geometric features and feature sizes within a certain range and are prone to cause lithography defects.

[0003] The cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate also belongs to a kind of lithography defect hot spot pattern. Because the pattern M0 used to connect the gate (usually M0 of the first metal layer) must first ensure sufficient coverage area with the gate, and secondly, the distance (pitch) between the centerlines of two adjacent M0s is required to be greater than the pitch between the centerlines of adjacent gates. Therefore, when several M0s on consecutive gates are arranged together and meet the above two conditions, there is a limit to the upper limit of the number of continuously arranged M0s, and these M0s sometimes need to be staggered in the gate direction. Otherwise, too close a distance is likely to cause a short circuit between adjacent M0s, and too far a distance is likely to cause an open circuit due to insufficient contact area between M0 and the gate. Therefore, when the number of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate reaches a certain upper limit and forms a very crowded cluster state, due to the limitations of the lithography process, it will still become a lithography defect hot spot pattern. At this time, the distance between M0s in the cluster, the overlapping area between M0 and the gate, etc. should all be concerned.

[0004] In actual manufacturing production, due to different processing methods of different manufacturers, lithography defect hot spot patterns do not necessarily actually cause lithography defects. That is, for different manufacturers, the lithography defect hot spot patterns that actually cause lithography defects may be different. The processing methods for lithography defect hot spot patterns include optimizing the original layout design before tape-out and performing special process treatment on the detected lithography process hot spots.

[0005] Therefore, quickly and accurately locating the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate in a large amount of layout data in advance has great practical significance for guiding manufacturers in design production, etc.

[0006] Therefore, if it is possible to quickly and accurately locate the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate in a large amount of layout data in advance, it has great practical significance for guiding the manufacturer in design and production. In the prior art, there is no particularly effective method specifically for identifying the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate, which is disadvantageous for the further improvement of the lithography process and design. Summary of the Invention

[0007] This invention is based on the problems of the above prior art, and aims to provide a method for identifying the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate, which is used to search for and locate the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate in a large amount of layout data. All the explanations or definitions of the nouns and related technical principles involved in the following description of this application are only for illustrative purposes and not for limiting explanations.

[0008] A method for identifying the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate provided by this invention includes: Step S1. Obtain layout information, including: active regions, gates, and rectangular M0s for connecting the gates; Step S2. Identify the rectangular M0s that are only connected to one gate and have no overlapping regions with the active regions as the first target M0s; Step S3. Take the direction perpendicular to the gate extension direction as the first direction and the gate extension direction as the second direction, and translate the sides of the first target M0s outward along the first direction or the second direction by a preset first distance to form a first region, where the first region is between adjacent active regions and has overlapping regions with the rectangular M0s of adjacent gates; Step S4. Identify a polygon synthesized from the first regions with overlapping regions as the first polygon; Step S5. Translate the sides of the first polygon inward along the first direction or the second direction by a preset second distance to form a second region, and the second region is the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate.

[0009] In general, the M0 is metal.

[0010] In a specific implementation, in Step S5, the number of rectangular M0s on the second region is also obtained and denoted as N.

[0011] As a further improvement, in Step S5, a preset range of the number of rectangular M0s in the M0 pattern cluster is compared with N, and the cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate with N meeting the number range is screened out.

[0012] Also obtain the information of rectangle M0 in the second region. The specific method is as follows: Preset a natural number i, where i ≤ N; on the first polygon, randomly select a polygon that contains the number of rectangles M0 equal to the difference between N and i as the second polygon; translate one side edge of the second polygon in the first direction outward by a preset third distance, and the swept rectangular area is the first rectangle. Identify the rectangle M0 in contact with the first rectangle as the second target M0; obtain the first length value in the first direction and the second length value in the second direction of the overlapping region between the second target M0 and the gate; the position of the second target M0 in the first direction in the first region is equal to i or the difference between N and i.

[0013] Preferably, the third distance is 1 nanometer.

[0014] In an advantageous embodiment, obtain all the information of rectangle M0 on the second region, including: when i is less than N, iterate the following first step and second step until i is equal to N; the first step, identify the region between one side of the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangle M0 on the same side as the third region. Obtaining the information of the second target M0 also includes that the distance between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangle M0 in its first direction is the width of the third region in the first direction; the vertical offset between one side of the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangle M0 on the same side is the width of the second target M0 in the second direction minus the length of the side that coincides with the second target M0 on the third region; the second step, increase the value of i by 1. When i is equal to N, the acquisition of all the information of rectangle M0 on the second region is completed.

[0015] In another specific implementation, the preset value of the first distance and / or the second distance is within the range from half to twice the distance between the center lines of adjacent gates.

[0016] In still another specific implementation, the gate obtained in step S1 refers to an effective gate, that is, the gate in the gate region of the gate layer minus the cut-off region in the cut-off layer.

[0017] The present invention has the following beneficial effects: According to a method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate involved in the present invention, by identifying the first region, the second region can be obtained, which can be used as a target pattern to quickly locate the cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on the gate. The second polygon is formed and identified as the second target M0, and then the information of the rectangular M0 in the cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on the gate can be obtained. The range of the number of rectangular M0s in the preset M0 pattern cluster is set, and the cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on the gate within this number range is screened out. The automatic identification of the cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on the gate can be realized, and the pattern cluster with a specific number of M0s can be found, and the relative position of each M0 in the cluster, the horizontal distance from the adjacent M0, and the vertical offset can be distinguished, which can be used for the search, statistics, and analysis of the hot spots in the layout design, and provide guidance for screening and positioning risk structures. The process is simple, the result is intuitive and accurate, which is beneficial to improving the production process and design, and is beneficial to improving production efficiency and reducing costs. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Figure 1 FIG. is a schematic diagram of a method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the first target M0 in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0020] Figure 3 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the first region in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 4 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the second region in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

[0022] Figure 5 FIG. is a flowchart of a method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[0023] Figure 6 FIG. is a schematic diagram of the process of obtaining the rectangular M0 in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0024] The above and / or additional aspects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent and easy to understand from the description of the embodiments in conjunction with the following drawings.

[0025] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although some embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Instead, these embodiments are provided to more thoroughly and completely understand the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are only for exemplary purposes and are not used to limit the protection scope of the present disclosure. In the following embodiments, the operations of the embodiments are depicted in a specific order. The description of these orders is for better understanding of the details in the embodiments to comprehensively understand the present invention, but the description of these orders does not necessarily correspond one-to-one with the method of the present invention, nor can the scope of the present invention be limited thereby.

[0026] It should be noted that the flowcharts and block diagrams in the accompanying drawings illustrate the possible operation processes of the methods according to the embodiments of the present invention. It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions marked in the blocks may also occur in a different order than marked in the accompanying drawings. For example, two consecutively represented blocks may actually be executed substantially in parallel, and they may sometimes be executed in an interleaved manner, depending on the purpose to be achieved by the steps involved.

[0027] In the following embodiments, the general case where M0 is the first layer of metal M0 connected to the active region is taken as an example for illustration to facilitate understanding of the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereby. M0 can also be a non-metal.

[0028] Embodiment 1

[0029] As Figure 1 shown, an embodiment of the present invention discloses a method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on a gate, including: Step S1. Obtain layout information, including: an active region, a gate, and a rectangular M0 for connecting the gate; in this embodiment, the obtained gate refers to an effective gate, that is, the gate in the gate region of the gate layer minus the cut-off region in the cut-off layer. This is a better practice in this embodiment and is not limiting. Step S2. Identify a rectangular M0 that is only connected to one gate and has no overlapping region with the active region as a first target M0; Step S3. Taking the extending direction of the active region as the first direction and the extending direction of the gate as the second direction, translate the sides of the first target M0 along the first direction or the second direction by a preset first distance to form a first region, and between adjacent active regions, an overlapping region is generated with the rectangular M0 of the adjacent gate; Step S4. Identify a polygon formed by synthesizing the first regions with overlapping regions as a first polygon; Step S5. Translate the sides of the first polygon inward by a preset second distance to form a second region, and identify the second region as a cluster of M0 patterns continuously arranged on the gate as the target pattern.

[0030] In this embodiment, reference is made to Figure 2 、Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown in Figure 4 , in this embodiment, the first target M0 is identified. For the sake of convenience in explanation, each rectangle M0 in Figure 2 , Figure 3 , and Figure 4 is the first target M0, which shows a situation schematically illustrated in this embodiment, and it should not be construed that each rectangle M0 in the actual situation is of course the first target M0. The straight lines where each side of the first target M0 is located are respectively moved outward by a preset distance value (the first distance value) along the first direction X, that is, the horizontal direction, and the second direction Y, that is, the vertical direction, so as to expand to overlap with the rectangle M0 connecting adjacent gates located between adjacent active regions. The expanded rectangular region is the first region, denoted as sized_M0P. The sized_M0P with overlapping regions is merged into a polygon and denoted as merged_sized_M0P, that is, the first polygon. Then, the straight lines where each side of the merged_sized_M0P is located are each moved inward by a preset distance value (the second distance) along the (first direction X) horizontal direction and the (second direction Y) vertical direction towards the inside of the merged_sized_M0P, and the shrunk merged_sized_M0P is denoted as merged_M0P, that is, the second region. At the same time, the number of rectangles M0 in the merged_M0P is obtained, denoted as N; the merged_M0P is the identified M0 graphic cluster.

[0031] In this embodiment, the first distance and the second distance can be equal or set differently, but the preset values of the two satisfy the following conditions: the distance value by which the sides in the horizontal direction or the vertical direction are moved is preset within the range of 1 / 2 gatepitch and 2 gate pitches; wherein, the gate pitch refers to the distance between the centerlines of adjacent gates.

[0032] Embodiment 2

[0033] In Embodiment 2, as shown in Figure 5 , the difference from Embodiment 1 is that in step S5, the range of the number of M0s in the preset M0 graphic cluster is compared with N, and the M0 graphic clusters arranged continuously on the gates where N is within this number range are screened out. In addition, it further includes the step of obtaining the rectangle M0 information on the second region. Figure 5 ​​​​​​​​As shown, in step S6, a preset value i is set, where i ≤ N. On the first polygon, a polygon that contains a number of rectangles M0 equal to the difference between N and i is taken as the second polygon. One side edge of the second polygon in the first direction is translated outward by a preset third distance, and the swept rectangular area is the first rectangle. The rectangle M0 in contact with the first rectangle is identified as the second target M0. The first length value in the first direction and the second length value in the second direction of the overlapping area between the second target M0 and the gate are obtained. The second target M0 is the i-th or (N - i)-th in the first direction of the second region (counting from different sides respectively). In step S7, i and N are compared. When i is less than N, it includes performing step S71. The area between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangle M0 on this side is marked as the third region. Obtaining the information of the second target M0 also includes that the distance between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangle M0 in its first direction is the width of the third region in the first direction. The vertical offset between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangle M0 on this side is the width of the second target M0 in the second direction minus the length of the side that coincides with the second target M0 on the third region. In step S72, the second polygon in step S71 minus the second target M0 and the third region in step S71 is used as the new second polygon, the value of i is incremented by one, and the operations of steps S6 to S7 are iterated until i is equal to N. When N is equal to i, step S8 is performed. It is obtained that the second target M0 is the N-th in the first direction of the second region. The first length value in the first direction and the second length value in the second direction of the overlapping area between the second target M0 and the gate are obtained. Thus, the information acquisition of each rectangle M0 in the second region is completed.

[0034] As Figure 6 shown, in this embodiment, each graphic area remaining after removing M0 from merged_M0P is denoted as M0P_space. In merged_M0P, a second polygon Ai with the number of side edges being i is taken, and the initial value of i is 1. In this example, the vertical edge on the left side of Ai is moved 1 nanometer to the left (the vertical edge on the right side can also be moved 1 nanometer to the right, that is, one side edge in the first direction is translated outward by the third distance of 1 nanometer). The third distance of 1 nanometer is a good example in this embodiment, and it is not limited. Other values can also be set according to the actual situation. The rectangle formed during the movement is denoted as rect_i, that is, the first rectangle, and the M0 in contact with rect_i is denoted as M0P_i, that is, the second target M0.

[0035] Determine whether i is equal to N: if i<N, then record the M0P_space in contact with the right side of the M0P_i as M0P_spacei, that is, the third area, and obtain the information of the M0P_i: the M0P_i is the i-th M0 from left to right in the merged_M0P, the length value of the horizontal side in the M0P_spacei (the width of the third area in the first direction X) is the distance value between the M0 and its right adjacent M0, the length of the vertical side in the M0P_i minus the length of the vertical side in the M0P_spacei (the width of the second target M0 in the second direction Y minus the length of the side overlapping with the second target M0 in the third area); that is, the vertical offset Stagger Offset between the M0P_i and its right adjacent M0, obtain the horizontal length value and vertical length value of the overlapping area between the M0P_i and the gate and record them as overlap_x and overlap_y respectively, that is, the first length value of the overlapping area between the second target M0 and the gate in the first direction X and the second length value in the second direction Y. Let i=i+1, and the remaining figure obtained (i.e., the second polygon minus the second target M0 and the third area, for example, A1 minus the M0P_1 and M0P_space1 to obtain the new A2) is recorded as the new Ai and the operations from step S6 to step S7 are repeated until i=N.

[0036] When i=N, proceed to step S8. Obtain the information of M0P_N: M0P_N is the Nth M0 from left to right in the merged_M0P, obtain the horizontal length value and vertical length value of the overlapping area between M0P_i and the gate and record them as overlap_x and overlap_y respectively; that is, complete the information acquisition of each rectangle M0 in the merged_M0P, and end the identification step.

[0037] It should be noted that the above examples are only specific embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the present invention is not limited to the above examples, and many variations are possible. All variations that can be directly derived or associated with the contents disclosed by a person skilled in the art should be considered as the protection scope of the present invention.

[0038] The above embodiments are preferred examples of the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. For the purpose of clear description, many implementation details are described together in the above description. However, it should be understood that these implementation details should not be used to limit the present invention.

[0039] The technical solutions between some practices described in the embodiments can be combined with each other, but they must be based on the fact that ordinary technicians in the field can implement them. When the combination of technical solutions is contradictory or cannot be implemented, it should be deemed that such combination of technical solutions does not exist and is not within the scope of protection required by the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate, characterized in that: Including: Step S1. Obtain layout information, including: active regions, gates, and rectangular M0s for connecting gates; Step S2. Identify the rectangular M0s that are only connected to one gate and have no overlapping regions with the active regions as the first target M0s; Step S3. Taking the direction perpendicular to the gate extension direction as the first direction and the gate extension direction as the second direction, translate the sides of the first target M0s outward along the first direction or the second direction by a preset first distance to form a first region, where the first region is between adjacent active regions and has overlapping regions with the rectangular M0s of adjacent gates; Step S4. Identify a polygon synthesized from the first regions with overlapping regions as the first polygon; Step S5. Translate the sides of the first polygon inward along the first direction or the second direction by a preset second distance to form a second region, and the second region is the M0 graphic cluster arranged continuously on the gate; wherein, the preset values of the first distance and the second distance are within the range from half to twice the distance between the centerlines of adjacent gates.

2. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to claim 1, characterized in that: In step S5, also obtain the number of rectangular M0s in the second region, denoted as N.

3. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to claim 2, characterized in that: In step S5, preset the number range of rectangular M0s in the M0 graphic cluster, compare it with N, and screen out the M0 graphic clusters arranged continuously on the gate where N meets the number range.

4. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to claim 2, characterized in that: Also obtain the information of the rectangular M0s in the second region. The specific method is: preset a natural number i, the initial value of i is 1 and i ≤ N; randomly select a polygon on the first polygon that contains the number of rectangular M0s equal to the difference between N and i as the second polygon; Translate one side edge of the second polygon outward in the first direction by a preset third distance, and the swept rectangular area is the first rectangle. Identify the rectangular M0 in contact with the first rectangle as the second target M0; Obtain the first length value in the first direction and the second length value in the second direction of the overlapping region between the second target M0 and the gate; the position of the second target M0 in the first direction in the first region is equal to i or the difference between N and i.

5. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to claim 4, characterized in that: The third distance is 1 nanometer.

6. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to claim 4, characterized in that: Obtain all the information of the rectangular M0s on the second region, including: When i is less than N, iterate the following first step and second step until i equals N; First step, identify the region between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangular M0 on the same side as the third region. Obtaining the information of the second target M0 also includes that the distance between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangular M0 in its first direction is the width of the third region in the first direction; the vertical offset between the second target M0 and the adjacent rectangular M0 on the same side is the width of the second target M0 in the second direction minus the length of the side that coincides with the second target M0 on the third region; Second step, increase the value of i by one; When i equals N, the information acquisition of all rectangular M0s on the second region is completed.

7. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that: The gate obtained in step S1 refers to an effective gate, that is, the gate in the gate region of the gate layer minus the cut-off region in the cut-off layer.

8. The method for identifying a cluster of M0 patterns arranged continuously on a gate according to any one of claims 1-6, characterized in that: The M0 is metal.

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