Optical proximity correction method and system, mask, apparatus, and storage medium

Abstract

An optical proximity correction method and system, a mask, a device and a storage medium, the optical proximity correction method comprises: providing a design pattern, corners of adjacent patterns in the design pattern are opposite and have a single intersection point; performing a pre-correction process on the design pattern to provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to the single intersection point, the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to constitute a pseudo-target pattern; performing an optical proximity effect correction process on the pseudo-target pattern with the design pattern as a target pattern to obtain a corrected pattern. The embodiments of the present application are beneficial to improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single intersection point during exposure, improve the effect of optical proximity effect correction, and are beneficial to improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single intersection point, thereby beneficial to reduce the edge placement error (Edge Placement Error) between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improve the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] Embodiments of the present application relate to the field of semiconductor manufacturing, and in particular to an optical proximity correction method and system, a mask, an apparatus and a storage medium. BACKGROUND

[0002] In order to realize the transfer of the pattern from the mask to the surface of the silicon wafer, it is usually necessary to go through the exposure step, the developing step after the exposure step and the etching step after the developing step. In the exposure step, light is irradiated onto the silicon wafer coated with photoresist through the light-transmitting area of the mask, and the photoresist undergoes chemical reaction under the irradiation of light; in the developing step, the photoresist is developed by taking advantage of the difference in the degree of dissolution of the developed and undeveloped photoresist to the developing agent, so as to form a photoetching pattern and realize the transfer of the pattern from the mask to the photoresist; in the etching step, the silicon wafer is etched based on the photoetching pattern formed by the photoresist layer, so as to further transfer the pattern of the mask to the silicon wafer.

[0003] However, as the size of the device is increasingly reduced, the difference between the pattern on the surface of the chip and the original mask pattern after the photoetching process also increases, and the corner rounding and line end shortening caused by the optical proximity effect (OPE) are typical phenomena that can be observed.

[0004] In order to avoid the optical proximity effect causing the pattern on the chip to be inconsistent with the mask pattern, the current solution is usually to correct the mask pattern by optical proximity correction (OPC), and then to transfer the pattern according to the corrected mask pattern. In the OPC correction process, mask manufacturing rule check is usually required to ensure the convergence of the final pattern and the precision of the mask manufacturing.

[0005] However, the effect of the optical proximity correction still needs to be improved. SUMMARY

[0006] The problem solved by embodiments of the present application is to provide an optical proximity correction method and system, a mask, an apparatus and a storage medium, and to improve the effect of the optical proximity effect correction.

[0007] To solve the above problems, the embodiment of the present application provides an optical proximity correction method, comprising: providing a design pattern, corners of adjacent patterns in the design pattern are opposite, and the design pattern has a single intersection point; performing pre-correction processing on the design pattern to provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to the single intersection point, the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to form a pseudo target pattern; and performing optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo target pattern with the design pattern as a target pattern to obtain a corrected pattern.

[0008] Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present application also provides an optical proximity correction system, comprising: a providing unit configured to provide a design pattern, corners of adjacent patterns in the design pattern are opposite, and the design pattern has a single intersection point; a pre-correction processing unit configured to perform pre-correction processing on the design pattern to provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to the single intersection point, the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to form a pseudo target pattern; and an optical proximity effect correction unit configured to perform optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo target pattern with the design pattern as a target pattern to obtain a corrected pattern.

[0009] Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present application also provides a mask, comprising a pattern obtained by the optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

[0010] Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present application also provides an apparatus, comprising at least one memory and at least one processor, the memory stores one or more computer instructions, wherein the one or more computer instructions are executed by the processor to implement the optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

[0011] Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present application also provides a storage medium, the storage medium stores one or more computer instructions, and the one or more computer instructions are used to implement the optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

[0012] Compared with the prior art, the technical scheme of the embodiment of the present application has the following advantages:

[0013] The optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiment of the present application performs pre-correction processing on the design pattern, and provides a compensation pattern at a corner close to a single point of the design pattern, the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to form a pseudo target pattern; by providing the compensation pattern at the corner close to the single point, the Run Length between edges of two adjacent patterns close to the single point is increased, and in the process of performing optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo target pattern by taking the design pattern as a target pattern, more space can be provided for pushing the edge of the pattern inward at the inner corner close to the single point, which is beneficial to prevent the problem that the corrected pattern still has a single point, and is beneficial to improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure, improve the effect of optical proximity effect correction, and improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point, and then is beneficial to reduce the edge placement error (Edge Placement Error) between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improve the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0014] Figure 1 is a flowchart of an optical proximity correction method;

[0015] Figure 2 is Figure 1 is a schematic diagram corresponding to step s1 in

[0016] Figure 3 is Figure 1 is a schematic diagram corresponding to step s2 in

[0017] Figure 4 is Figure 1 is a schematic diagram corresponding to step s3 in

[0018] Figure 5 is Figure 1 is a schematic diagram corresponding to step s4 in

[0019] Figure 6 is Figure 5 is a local enlarged view at the position of the dashed line frame;

[0020] Figure 7 is a flowchart of an embodiment of the optical proximity correction method of the present application;

[0021] Figures 8 to 12 is a schematic diagram corresponding to each step in an embodiment of the optical proximity correction method of the present application;

[0022] Figure 13 is a functional block diagram of the optical proximity correction system of the present application;

[0023] Figure 14 is a hardware structure diagram of an embodiment of the device provided by the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] As can be known from the background, the effect of optical proximity correction still needs to be improved. The reasons why the effect of optical proximity correction still needs to be improved will be analyzed in combination with an optical proximity correction method. Figure 1 is a flowchart of an optical proximity correction method.

[0025] In combination with Figure 1 , with reference to Figures 2 to 6 , the optical proximity correction method comprises:

[0026] With reference to Figure 2 , a step s1 is performed: a design pattern 10 is provided, the design pattern 10 comprises a plurality of rectangular patterns 20, the corners of adjacent rectangular patterns 20 are opposite to each other and have a single intersection point (as shown by the dashed circle in Figure 2 ). Wherein, the design pattern 10 is used to form a cutting layer pattern, the cutting layer pattern is used to cut fins 30 along the extension direction of the fins 30, the fins 30 extend along a transverse direction (as shown by the x direction in Figure 2 ) and are arranged at intervals along a longitudinal direction (as shown by the y direction in Figure 2 ), and the transverse direction and the longitudinal direction are perpendicular to each other.

[0027] With reference to Figure 3 , a step s2 is performed: an etch bias compensation process is performed on the design pattern 10 to obtain an etch compensation pattern 40.

[0028] With reference to Figure 4 , a step s3 is performed: the etch compensation pattern 40 is taken as a target pattern, and an optical proximity effect (OPC) correction process is performed on the etch compensation pattern 40 to obtain a corrected pattern 45.

[0029] With reference to Figure 5 , a step s4 is performed: a photolithography simulation is performed on the corrected pattern 45 to obtain a simulated exposure pattern 60, and an edge placement error (EPE) between the simulated exposure pattern 60 and the target pattern is calculated.

[0030] In the field of semiconductors, in the process of performing optical proximity effect correction processing, at the inner corner of the pattern, the part of the edge of the inner corner is usually pushed inward to improve the distribution of light intensity around the position of the inner corner during exposure, thereby improving the problem of corner rounding.

[0031] However, as Figure 2As shown, since the corners of the adjacent rectangular patterns 20 are opposite to each other and only have a single intersection point (as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 2 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 3 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 3 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 4 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 4 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in

[0032] As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 5 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in Figure 6 As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in

[0033] As shown, even if the etching compensation bias processing extends the edges of the design pattern 10 outward by a certain distance along the lateral direction (as shown by the middle x direction), the lateral overlap width RL between the edges of the two adjacent rectangular patterns 20 is still small at the position close to the single intersection point, as shown by the dotted circle in

[0034] To solve the technical problem, an optical proximity correction method is provided in the embodiments of the present application. Referring to Figure 7 , a flow chart of an embodiment of the optical proximity correction method of the present application is shown.

[0035] As an example, the optical proximity correction method described in the embodiments includes the following basic steps:

[0036] Step S1: providing a design pattern, in which the corners of adjacent patterns are opposite to each other and have a single intersection point;

[0037] Step S3: pre-correction processing is performed on the design pattern to provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to a single point, and the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to form a pseudo target pattern;

[0038] Step S4: optical proximity correction processing is performed on the pseudo target pattern to obtain a corrected pattern.

[0039] After the design pattern is provided in step S1, before the pre-correction processing is performed on the design pattern in step S3, the optical proximity correction method further includes: step S2, etching deviation compensation processing is performed on the design pattern to compensate for a critical dimension of the design pattern based on an etching deviation amount.

[0040] After the optical proximity correction processing is performed in step S4 to obtain a corrected pattern, the optical proximity correction method further includes step S5: optical proximity effect verification is performed on the corrected pattern.

[0041] The optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiment of the present application increases the overlapping distance between the edges of two adjacent patterns close to the single point by setting a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to the single point. In the process of performing optical proximity correction processing on the pseudo target pattern with the design pattern as the target pattern, more space can be provided for pushing the edge of the pattern inward at the inner corner close to the single point, which is beneficial to prevent the problem that the corrected pattern still has a single point, and is also beneficial to improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure, improve the effect of optical proximity correction, and improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point, thereby reducing the edge placement error between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improving the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0042] In order to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, specific embodiments of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

[0043] Reference Figure 8 Step S1: a design pattern 100 is provided, corners of adjacent patterns 120 in the design pattern 100 are opposite to each other, and have a single point of intersection.

[0044] After the optical proximity correction is performed on the design pattern 100, the obtained pattern is used to manufacture a mask plate, and then a photolithography process is performed using the mask plate to form a corresponding mask pattern on a wafer.

[0045] In the semiconductor field, due to mask making constraints (MRC), it is difficult to correct the optical proximity effect of the design pattern with a single-point corner, so in this embodiment, the optical proximity correction is performed on the design pattern 100 with a single-point intersection, which is beneficial to significantly improve the effect of optical proximity correction.

[0046] In this embodiment, the design pattern 100 is used to form a cutting layer pattern, which is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and the to-be-cut layer extends along the first direction (such as the X direction in Figure 8 the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction (such as the Y direction in Figure 8 ).

[0047] The to-be-cut layer is a target layer to be cut, and the to-be-cut layer includes a fin 110, a gate or a metal interconnection line. The fin 110 is used to form a fin field effect transistor, and the gate can be a dummy gate or a device gate.

[0048] In this embodiment, the to-be-cut layer is taken as the fin 110 as an example for description. Accordingly, the design pattern 100 is used to form a mask for a fin cut process.

[0049] In this embodiment, the fin 110 extends along the first direction and is arranged at intervals along the second direction.

[0050] In this embodiment, the design pattern 100 includes a plurality of rectangular patterns 120, and the corners of adjacent rectangular patterns 120 are opposite and have a single-point intersection (such as the dashed circle in Figure 8 ).

[0051] The design pattern 100 includes a plurality of rectangular patterns 120, which is friendly to the mask manufacturing process and the optical proximity effect correction, and the result is controllable.

[0052] In this embodiment, the design pattern 100 has an edge along the first direction and an edge along the second direction, and the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction. Specifically, the design pattern 100 includes a first longitudinal edge 121 along the second direction and a second longitudinal edge 122 arranged in parallel opposite to the first longitudinal edge 121.

[0053] Referring to Figure 9 , step S2 is performed to compensate the design pattern 100 for etch bias, which is used to compensate the critical dimension of the design pattern 100 based on the etch offset.

[0054] After the photolithography process and the etching process are performed, the critical dimension of the pattern formed on the wafer has a deviation from the critical dimension of the design pattern 100. The etching deviation compensation processing is performed on the design pattern 100, so that the deviation caused by the photolithography process and the etching process is compensated in the design pattern 100 in advance, and the matching degree between the pattern formed on the wafer after the photolithography and etching processes are performed and the design pattern 100 is improved.

[0055] In the embodiment, the step of performing the etching deviation compensation processing on the design pattern 100 includes moving the edge of the design pattern 100 outward by a preset distance along a direction perpendicular to the edge of the design pattern 100, so as to add a line width to the edge of the design pattern 100, and compensate for the etching deviation.

[0056] In the embodiment, the design pattern 100 includes a first longitudinal edge 121 along the second direction and a second longitudinal edge 122 arranged opposite to the first longitudinal edge 121 in parallel. The step of performing the etching deviation compensation processing on the design pattern 100 includes translating the first longitudinal edge 121 and the second longitudinal edge 122 along the first direction and along a direction in which the size of the design pattern 100 is increased, based on the etching deviation compensation amount.

[0057] In the embodiment, the design pattern 100 is used to form a cutting layer pattern, and the cutting layer pattern is used to cut a to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and the to-be-cut layer extends along the first direction. Accordingly, compared with the size of the design pattern 100 along the second direction, the size of the design pattern 100 along the first direction is more important for subsequent cutting of the to-be-cut layer along the first direction. Therefore, in the embodiment, only the first longitudinal edge 121 and the second longitudinal edge 122 are translated along the first direction.

[0058] In addition, the design pattern 100 also includes a transverse edge along the first direction. In the step of performing the etching deviation compensation processing on the design pattern 100, the transverse edge of the design pattern 100 that is not in contact with the single intersection point of the intersection is also translated along the second direction and in a direction in which the size of the design pattern 100 is increased.

[0059] When the transverse edge of the design pattern 100 in contact with the single intersection point of the intersection is translated along the second direction and in a direction in which the size of the design pattern 100 is increased, the transverse edge of the design pattern 100 is more likely to be closer to the adjacent to-be-cut layer. Accordingly, the corner rounding problem at the position close to the single intersection point is more serious when the photolithography process is performed, and the edge placement error at the line end position of the to-be-cut layer is more serious.

[0060] Therefore, in the embodiment, only the transverse edge of the design pattern 100 that is not in contact with the single intersection point of the intersection is translated along the second direction, so as to avoid aggravating the corner rounding problem at the position close to the single intersection point.

[0061] In this embodiment, the etching offset can be obtained from experimental data.

[0062] In combination with reference Figure 10 , step S3: pre-correcting the design pattern 100 to provide a compensation pattern 130 at the corner of the design pattern 100 close to the single point, the compensation pattern 130 and the design pattern 100 are used to form a pseudo target pattern (Pseudo Target) 200.

[0063] By providing the compensation pattern 130 at the corner of the design pattern 100 close to the single point, the run length between the edges of the two adjacent patterns close to the single point is increased, and in the process of performing the optical proximity effect correction on the pseudo target pattern 200 by taking the design pattern 100 as the target pattern, more space is provided for pushing the edges of the pattern inward at the inner corner close to the single point, which is beneficial to prevent the problem that the corrected pattern still has a single point, and is also beneficial to improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure, improve the effect of the optical proximity effect correction, and improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point, thereby reducing the edge placement error between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improving the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0064] In this embodiment, the design pattern 100 is used to form a cut layer pattern, and the cut layer pattern is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and the to-be-cut layer is the fin 110. By providing the compensation pattern 130 at the corner of the design pattern 100 close to the single point before performing the optical proximity effect correction, the corner rounding problem close to the single point in the exposure process when forming the cut mask layer is improved, and the line end retraction problem of the fin 110 after the fin cutting process using the cut mask layer is improved.

[0065] In the semiconductor process, after the fin cutting process, a gate electrode is usually formed across the fin 110, and the gate electrode covers part of the top and part of the sidewall of the fin 110. In this embodiment, the line end retraction problem of the fin 110 after the fin cutting process is significantly improved, and accordingly, in the subsequent process of forming the gate electrode, the relative positional relationship between the gate electrode and the fin 110 can meet the design requirements, the gate electrode can cross the fin 110, and the two sides of the gate electrode can also expose at least part of the fin 110, thereby preventing device failure at the end of the fin 110 and improving the process yield and the performance of the semiconductor structure.

[0066] Specifically, the design pattern 100 after the etching compensation processing is pre-corrected, so as to improve the optical proximity effect and compensate for the etching deviation.

[0067] It should be noted that the subsequent optical proximity correction processing of the pseudo target pattern 200 includes the process of segmenting the edges of the pseudo target pattern 200, and the segmented line segment along the second direction has a preset minimum length. In the process of pre-correcting the design pattern 100, the length of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length in the embodiment.

[0068] Along the second direction, the length of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length, so that in the subsequent optical proximity correction processing, the process of segmenting the edges of the pseudo target pattern 200, the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction can be at least segmented into a line segment, and correspondingly, in the process of adjusting the position of the line segment based on the edge placement error, the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction can be adjusted.

[0069] However, the length of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction should not be too large, otherwise it is easy to cause the elongated strip formed at the single point to be too long in the subsequent optical proximity correction process, which is easy to increase the risk of deviation in the process of manufacturing the mask. Therefore, in the embodiment, the length of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction is less than or equal to twice the preset length.

[0070] In the embodiment, the pre-correcting the design pattern 100 includes: obtaining a preset threshold distance (Threshold Length, TL), the preset threshold distance TL satisfies: after the optical proximity correction processing of the pseudo target pattern 200, the edge placement error between the simulation exposure pattern corresponding to the corrected pattern and the target pattern is within the preset threshold range; based on the preset threshold distance, the compensation pattern 130 is provided at the corner of the design pattern 100 close to the single point, and the distance RL between the outer edges of the compensation patterns 130 located on both sides of the single point along the first direction is greater than or equal to the preset threshold distance TL.

[0071] The preset threshold distance TL is obtained, so as to provide a reference for subsequent provision of the compensation pattern 130, so as to ensure that the provided compensation pattern 130 can improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure.

[0072] In the embodiment, the preset threshold distance TL is obtained through multiple experiments.

[0073] The optical proximity correction processing includes a segmentation processing on the edges of the pseudo target pattern, and a parameter of the segmentation processing includes a minimum line segment segmentation length; in this embodiment, a preset threshold distance TL is 0.8 to 0.9 times of the minimum line segment segmentation length.

[0074] In the process of the optical proximity correction, the smaller the length of the line segment is, the higher the priority of the correction is, and the larger the position adjustment range of the line segment is, therefore, by setting the preset threshold distance TL in the above range, the length of the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction is also small, thereby facilitating to improve the priority of adjusting the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction, and correspondingly facilitating to flexibly adjust the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction, so as to make the edge error of the edge of the compensation pattern along the second direction at the corner close to the single point meet the requirements after the correction.

[0075] In this embodiment, based on the preset threshold distance TL, the step of providing the compensation pattern 130 at the corner of the design pattern 100 close to the single point includes: at the position close to the single point, a part of the edge of the design pattern 100 along the second direction is intercepted as a configuration line segment (not marked); the edge of the configuration line segment is extended along the first direction to form the compensation pattern 130 located outside the configuration line segment.

[0076] In this embodiment, the design pattern 100 is used to form a cutting layer pattern, the cutting layer pattern is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and correspondingly, the size of the design pattern 100 along the first direction defines the size of cutting the to-be-cut layer, therefore, at the position close to the single point, a part of the edge of the design pattern 100 along the second direction is intercepted as a configuration line segment, thereby facilitating to significantly reduce the edge placement error between the edge of the exposure pattern along the second direction and the target pattern in the exposure process of the subsequent photolithography process, and further facilitating to significantly solve the line end retraction problem of the to-be-cut layer after the cutting process in the subsequent cutting process, thereby improving the accuracy of the cutting process.

[0077] In this embodiment, in the process of intercepting the part of the edge of the design pattern 100 along the second direction, the length of the intercepted configuration line segment is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length, thereby ensuring that the edge of the obtained compensation pattern along the second direction can meet the requirements of the subsequent segmentation processing.

[0078] The edge of the configuration line segment is extended along the first direction until the distance between the outer edges RL of the compensation patterns 130 located on both sides of the single point is greater than or equal to the preset threshold distance.

[0079] However, the distance RL between the outer edges of the compensation pattern 130 on the two sides of the single point should not be too large, otherwise it is easy to cause that in the process of the optical proximity effect correction, the edges of the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction are less likely to be corrected, the adjustment range of the edges of the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction is small, and it is easy to cause that the effect of improving the optical proximity effect correction is not obvious. Therefore, the optical proximity effect correction process includes a segmentation process on the edges of the pseudo target pattern, and the parameters of the segmentation process include a minimum line segment segmentation length; in the embodiment, the distance between the outer edges of the compensation pattern 130 on the two sides of the single point along the first direction is less than 2 times of the minimum line segment segmentation length.

[0080] Reference Figure 11 , step S4: taking the design pattern 100 as a target pattern (Target), performing optical proximity effect (OPC) correction on the pseudo target pattern 200 to obtain a corrected pattern 210.

[0081] The optical proximity effect correction process is used to adjust the contour of the pseudo target pattern 200 to alleviate the pattern distortion problem caused by the optical proximity effect. The corrected pattern 210 is used to manufacture a mask.

[0082] In the semiconductor field, in the process of performing the optical proximity effect correction, at the inner corner of the pattern, the part of the edge of the inner corner is usually pushed inward to improve the distribution of light intensity near the position of the inner corner during exposure, thereby improving the problem of corner rounding.

[0083] In the embodiment, by setting the compensation pattern 130, the overlapping distance RL between the edges of the two adjacent patterns near the single point is increased, and taking the design pattern 100 as a target pattern, the optical proximity effect correction is performed on the pseudo target pattern 200. Compared with taking the pseudo target pattern as a correction target, the difference between the pseudo target pattern 200 and the design pattern 100 near the single point position is larger, and in the process of performing the optical proximity effect correction on the pseudo target pattern 200, more margin can be provided for pushing the edge of the pattern inward at the inner corner near the single point, thereby preventing the problem that the corrected pattern 210 still has a single point and improving the effect of the optical proximity effect correction.

[0084] In the embodiment, the design pattern 100 after the etching bias compensation process is taken as a target pattern to perform the optical proximity effect correction on the pseudo target pattern 200.

[0085] In the embodiment, taking the design pattern 100 after the etching bias compensation process as a target pattern means taking the design pattern 100 after the etching bias compensation process as a target pattern after exposure.

[0086] In this embodiment, the optical proximity effect correction processing is performed by using a model-based optical proximity effect correction (Model-based OPC) as an example. In other embodiments, the optical proximity effect correction processing can also be performed by using a rule-based optical proximity effect correction (Rule-based OPC), or a mixed model and rule-based optical proximity effect correction. In some other embodiments, other suitable optical proximity effect correction methods can also be used.

[0087] In this embodiment, the optical proximity effect correction processing is performed by using a model-based optical proximity effect correction as an example, which includes: performing a dissection processing on the edges of the dummy target pattern 210 to obtain a plurality of segments; performing a lithography simulation step for simulating the lithography of the dummy target pattern 210 based on an optical proximity correction model to obtain a simulated exposure pattern; performing a calculation step for comparing the simulated exposure pattern with the target pattern to obtain an edge placement error EPE corresponding to the simulated exposure pattern; and performing an adjustment step for adjusting the position of the segments based on the edge placement error EPE. The lithography simulation step, the calculation step, and the adjustment step performed once constitute a correction cycle, and the iterative processing of multiple correction cycles is performed until the edge placement error of the simulated exposure pattern corresponding to the dummy target pattern 210 is within a preset threshold range.

[0088] In this embodiment, during the dissection processing of the edges of the dummy target pattern 210, the segments along the second direction have a preset minimum length.

[0089] In this embodiment, since the length of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length of the dissection processing, the length of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction can be at least divided into a segment during the dissection processing. Accordingly, the position of the edge of the compensation pattern 130 along the second direction can be continuously adjusted during the adjustment of the position of the segments based on the edge placement error.

[0090] The iterative processing of multiple correction cycles is performed until the edge placement error corresponding to the dummy target pattern 200 converges and meets the requirement of the preset threshold range.

[0091] In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, after the optical proximity effect correction processing of the dummy target pattern 200 is performed, the segments of the modified pattern 210 corresponding to the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction near the single point are recessed relative to the remaining segments of the modified pattern 210 along the first direction and away from the single point. Figure 11

[0092] In addition, as shown in FIG. 2B, after the optical proximity effect correction processing of the dummy target pattern 200 is performed, the segments of the modified pattern 210 corresponding to the compensation pattern 130 along the first direction near the single point are recessed relative to the remaining segments of the modified pattern 210 along the first direction and away from the single point. Figure 11 ​As shown by the dotted line, after the optical proximity correction processing is performed on the dummy target pattern 200, a bridge structure is formed at the position close to the single point, avoiding the formation of the single point, thereby improving the problem of the limitation of mask manufacturability rules at the corner close to the single point.

[0093] Reference Figure 12 In step S5, the optical proximity effect verification (OPC Verification) is performed on the modified pattern 210, for verifying the edge placement error corresponding to the modified pattern 210. The optical proximity effect verification is used to verify the effect of the optical proximity correction processing.

[0094] As described above, after the compensation pattern 130 is provided and the optical proximity correction processing is performed, the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure is improved, the effect of the optical proximity correction is improved, the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point is improved, and the edge placement error between the simulated exposure pattern 220 and the target pattern is reduced, thereby improving the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0095] In addition, in the embodiment, before the compensation pattern 130 is provided, the etching deviation compensation processing is also performed on the design pattern 100, so that after the optical proximity correction processing is performed and the mask pattern is formed using the modified pattern 210 and the etching process is performed using the mask pattern, the matching degree between the pattern formed on the wafer and the design pattern is high.

[0096] Specifically, the design pattern 100 is used to form a cutting layer pattern, and the cutting layer pattern is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and the to-be-cut layer is the fin 110, so that the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point during the exposure process for forming the cutting mask layer is improved, and the line end retraction problem of the fin 110 after the fin cutting process using the cutting mask layer is improved.

[0097] In the semiconductor process, after the fin cutting process is performed, a gate electrode is usually formed across the fin 110, and the gate electrode covers part of the top and part of the sidewall of the fin 110. In the embodiment, the line end retraction problem of the fin 110 after the fin cutting process is significantly improved, and correspondingly, in the subsequent process of forming the gate electrode, the relative positional relationship between the gate electrode and the fin 110 can meet the design requirements, the gate electrode can cross the fin 110, and at least part of the fin 110 can be exposed on both sides of the gate electrode, thereby preventing device failure at the end of the fin 110, improving the process yield, and improving the performance of the semiconductor structure.

[0098] Correspondingly, the application also provides an optical proximity correction system. Figure 13 is a structural schematic diagram of an embodiment of the optical proximity correction system of the application.

[0099] In the embodiment, the optical proximity correction system 50 comprises a providing unit 501 configured to provide a design pattern, wherein corners of adjacent patterns in the design pattern are opposite to each other and have a single intersection point; a pre-correction processing unit 503 configured to perform pre-correction processing on the design pattern, and provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to the single intersection point, wherein the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to form a pseudo target pattern; and an optical proximity effect correction unit 504 configured to perform optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo target pattern by taking the design pattern as a target pattern, and obtain a corrected pattern.

[0100] The pre-correction processing unit 503 is configured to perform pre-correction processing on the design pattern, and provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern close to the single intersection point, so as to increase a run length (RL) between edges of two adjacent patterns close to the single intersection point. In the process of performing optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo target pattern by taking the design pattern as a target pattern in the optical proximity effect correction unit 504, more space can be provided for pushing the edges of the pattern inward at the inner corner close to the single intersection point, which is beneficial to prevent the problem that the corrected pattern still has a single intersection point, and is also beneficial to improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single intersection point during exposure, improve the effect of optical proximity effect correction, and improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single intersection point, thereby being beneficial to reduce the edge placement error (EPE) between the simulation exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improve the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0101] The providing unit 501 is configured to provide the design pattern, so that the pattern obtained after performing optical proximity correction on the design pattern is used to manufacture a mask plate, and then a photolithography process is performed by using the mask plate, so as to form a corresponding mask pattern on a wafer.

[0102] In the semiconductor field, due to the limitation of mask manufacturability rules (MRC), it is difficult to perform optical proximity effect correction on the design pattern having a single intersection corner. Therefore, in the embodiment, the optical proximity correction is performed on the design pattern having a single intersection corner, which is beneficial to significantly improve the effect of optical proximity effect correction.

[0103] In the embodiment, the design pattern is used to form a cut layer pattern, and the cut layer pattern cuts a to-be-cut layer along a first direction. The to-be-cut layer extends along the first direction, and a direction perpendicular to the first direction is a second direction.

[0104] The to-be-cut layer is a target layer to be cut, and the to-be-cut layer comprises a fin gate or a metal interconnection line. The fin is used to form a fin field effect transistor, and the gate can be a dummy gate or a device gate. In the embodiment, the to-be-cut layer is taken as the fin as an example for description.

[0105] Accordingly, the design pattern is used to form a mask for the fin cutting process. In this embodiment, the fins extend along a first direction and are spaced apart along a second direction.

[0106] In this embodiment, the design pattern includes a plurality of rectangular patterns, corners of adjacent rectangular patterns are opposite to each other and have a single intersection point. The design pattern includes a plurality of rectangular patterns, which is friendly to mask manufacturing process and optical proximity correction, and the result is controllable.

[0107] In this embodiment, the design pattern has an edge along a first direction and an edge along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Specifically, in this embodiment, the design pattern includes a first longitudinal edge along the second direction and a second longitudinal edge arranged opposite to the first longitudinal edge in parallel.

[0108] In this embodiment, the optical proximity correction system 50 further includes an etching deviation compensation unit 502 configured to compensate a critical dimension of the design pattern based on the etching deviation, and configured to output the compensated design pattern as a target pattern to the optical proximity correction unit 504.

[0109] After the photolithography process and the etching process, the critical dimension of the pattern formed on the wafer has a deviation from the critical dimension of the design pattern. The etching deviation compensation unit 502 is configured to compensate the design pattern for the etching deviation, so as to pre-compensate the deviation possibly caused by the subsequent photolithography process and etching process in the design pattern, thereby improving the matching degree between the pattern formed on the wafer after the photolithography and etching processes and the design pattern.

[0110] In this embodiment, the etching deviation compensation unit 502 is configured to move the edge of the design pattern outward by a preset distance along a direction perpendicular to the edge of the design pattern, so as to move the edge of the design pattern outward by a preset distance and add a line width to the edge of the design pattern, so as to compensate the etching deviation.

[0111] Specifically, the design pattern includes a first longitudinal edge along the second direction and a second longitudinal edge arranged opposite to the first longitudinal edge in parallel. The etching deviation compensation unit 502 is configured to translate the first longitudinal edge and the second longitudinal edge along the first direction and along a direction of increasing the size of the design pattern based on the etching deviation compensation amount.

[0112] In this embodiment, the design pattern is used to form a cutting layer pattern, the cutting layer pattern cuts the layer to be cut along the first direction, and the layer to be cut extends along the first direction. Accordingly, compared with the size of the design pattern along the second direction, the size of the design pattern along the first direction is more important for the subsequent cutting of the layer to be cut along the first direction. Therefore, the etching deviation compensation unit 502 only translates the first longitudinal edge and the second longitudinal edge along the first direction.

[0113] In addition, the design pattern also includes a lateral edge along the first direction. In this embodiment, the etching offset compensation unit 502 is also configured to translate the lateral edge of the design pattern that is not in contact with the single point of intersection along a direction along the second direction and increasing the size of the design pattern.

[0114] When the lateral edge of the design pattern that is in contact with the single point of intersection is translated along a direction along the second direction and increasing the size of the design pattern, it is easy to cause the lateral edge of the design pattern to be closer to the adjacent to-be-cut layer, and accordingly, the corner rounding problem at the position close to the single point is more serious when the photolithography process is performed, and it is easy to cause the edge placement error at the line end position of the to-be-cut layer to be more serious.

[0115] Therefore, in this embodiment, only the lateral edge of the design pattern that is not in contact with the single point of intersection is translated along the second direction, so as to avoid exacerbating the corner rounding problem at the position close to the single point.

[0116] In this embodiment, the etching offset can be obtained by experimental data.

[0117] The pre-correction processing unit 503 is configured to perform pre-correction processing on the design pattern, and provide a compensation pattern at the corner of the design pattern close to the single point, and the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to constitute a pseudo-target pattern.

[0118] The pre-correction processing unit 503 is configured to provide a compensation pattern at the corner of the design pattern close to the single point, increase the overlapping distance between the edges of the two adjacent patterns at the position close to the single point, and in the process of performing optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo-target pattern by the optical proximity effect correction unit 504 taking the design pattern as the target pattern, more space can be provided for pushing the edge of the pattern inward at the inner corner close to the single point, which is beneficial to prevent the problem that the modified pattern still has a single point, and accordingly, is beneficial to improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point when exposure, improve the effect of optical proximity effect correction, and improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point, and further, is beneficial to reduce the edge placement error between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improve the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0119] In this embodiment, the design pattern is used to form a cut layer pattern, and the cut layer pattern is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and the to-be-cut layer is a fin. By providing a compensation pattern at the corner of the design pattern close to the single point before performing optical proximity effect correction processing, it is beneficial to improve the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point in the exposure process when forming the cut mask layer, and further, is beneficial to improve the line end retraction problem of the fin after performing the fin cutting process by using the cut mask layer.

[0120] In the semiconductor manufacturing process, after the fin cutting process, a gate is usually formed across the fin, covering part of the top and part of the sidewall of the fin. In this embodiment, the line end retraction problem of the fin after the fin cutting process is significantly improved. Accordingly, in the subsequent process of forming the gate, the relative positional relationship between the gate and the fin can be ensured to meet the design requirements. The gate can cross the fin, and the two sides of the gate can also expose at least part of the fin, thereby preventing device failure at the end of the fin, improving the process yield, and improving the performance of the semiconductor structure.

[0121] Specifically, the pre-correction processing unit 503 is configured to perform pre-correction processing on the design pattern output by the etching compensation processing unit 502.

[0122] It should be noted that the optical proximity effect correction unit 504 performs optical proximity effect correction processing on the pseudo target pattern, including the process of segmenting the edges of the pseudo target pattern, and the segmented line segment in the second direction has a preset minimum length. In this embodiment, the compensation pattern provided by the pre-correction processing unit 503 has an edge length in the second direction greater than or equal to the preset minimum length.

[0123] In the second direction, the edge length of the compensation pattern is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length, so that the optical proximity effect correction unit 504 segments the edges of the pseudo target pattern. The edge of the compensation pattern in the second direction can be at least segmented into a line segment. Accordingly, in the process of adjusting the position of the line segment based on the edge placement error by the optical proximity effect correction unit 504, the edge of the compensation pattern in the second direction can be adjusted accordingly.

[0124] However, the edge length of the compensation pattern in the second direction should not be too large, otherwise it is easy to cause the elongated strip formed at a single point to be too long in the subsequent optical proximity effect correction process, which easily increases the risk of deviation in the process of manufacturing the mask. Therefore, in this embodiment, the edge length of the compensation pattern in the second direction is less than or equal to twice the preset length.

[0125] In this embodiment, the design pattern is used to form a cutting layer pattern, the cutting layer pattern is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and the to-be-cut layer extends along the first direction. The direction perpendicular to the first direction is the second direction.

[0126] The pre-correction processing unit 503 comprises: a preset threshold distance (Threshold Length, TL) acquisition module, configured to acquire a preset threshold distance TL, wherein the preset threshold distance TL satisfies: performing optical proximity effect correction processing on the dummy target pattern to obtain a corrected pattern, and an edge placement error between a simulation exposure pattern corresponding to the corrected pattern and a target pattern is within a preset threshold range; and a setting module, configured to provide the compensation pattern at a corner close to a single point of the design pattern based on the preset threshold distance, and a distance RL between outer edges of the compensation pattern located on two sides of the single point in a first direction is greater than or equal to the preset threshold distance TL.

[0127] The preset threshold distance TL is acquired, thereby providing a reference for providing the compensation pattern, so as to ensure that the provided compensation pattern can improve the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure.

[0128] The optical proximity effect correction processing comprises segmenting an edge of the dummy target pattern, and a parameter of the segmenting processing comprises a minimum line segment length; in this embodiment, the preset threshold distance TL is 0.8 to 0.9 times the minimum line segment length.

[0129] In this embodiment, in the process of optical proximity effect correction, the smaller the length of a line segment is, the higher the priority of correction is, and the larger the position adjustment range of the line segment is; therefore, by setting the preset threshold distance TL in the above range, the length of the compensation pattern in the first direction is also small, thereby facilitating the improvement of the priority of adjusting the edge of the compensation pattern in the first direction, and facilitating the flexible adjustment of the edge of the compensation pattern in the first direction, so as to make the edge error of the corrected pattern in the second direction at the corner close to the single point meet the requirements.

[0130] In this embodiment, the setting module comprises: a line segment cutter, configured to cut a part of an edge of the design pattern in a second direction as a configuration line segment at a position close to the single point, and a direction perpendicular to the second direction is a first direction; and a setter, configured to extend the edge of the configuration line segment in the first direction, and set the compensation pattern located outside the configuration line segment.

[0131] In the embodiment, the design pattern is used to form a cutting layer pattern, the cutting layer pattern is used to cut the to-be-cut layer along the first direction, and correspondingly, the size of the design pattern along the first direction defines the size of the cutting of the to-be-cut layer, so that the part of the edge of the design pattern along the second direction is taken as a configuration line segment at the position close to the single point, thereby facilitating the significant reduction of the edge placement error between the edge of the exposure pattern along the second direction and the target pattern in the exposure process of the subsequent photolithography process, and further facilitating the significant line end retraction problem of the to-be-cut layer after the subsequent cutting process, thereby improving the accuracy of the cutting process.

[0132] In the embodiment, the length of the configuration line segment taken by the line segment taker is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length, thereby ensuring that the edge of the compensation pattern along the second direction can meet the requirements of the division processing of the optical proximity correction unit 504.

[0133] The setter is configured to expand the edge of the configuration line segment along the first direction until the distance between the outer edges of the compensation patterns located on the two sides of the single point is greater than or equal to the preset threshold distance.

[0134] However, the distance between the outer edges of the compensation patterns located on the two sides of the single point should not be too large, otherwise it is easy to cause that the edge of the compensation pattern along the first direction has a lower priority in the optical proximity correction processing, the adjustment range of the edge of the compensation pattern along the first direction is small, and the effect of improving the optical proximity correction is not obvious. Therefore, the optical proximity correction processing includes the division processing of the edge of the pseudo target pattern, and the parameters of the division processing include a minimum line segment division length; in the embodiment, the distance between the outer edges of the compensation patterns located on the two sides of the single point along the first direction is less than 2 times the minimum line segment division length.

[0135] The optical proximity correction unit 504 is configured to adjust the contour of the pseudo target pattern to alleviate the pattern distortion problem caused by the optical proximity effect.

[0136] In the semiconductor field, in the process of the optical proximity correction processing, at the inner corner of the pattern, part of the edge of the inner corner is usually pushed inward to improve the distribution of light intensity around the position of the inner corner during exposure, thereby improving the problem of corner rounding.

[0137] In this embodiment, the pre-correction processing unit 503 is configured to set a compensation pattern, increase the overlapping distance RL between the edges of two adjacent patterns near the single point, and perform OPC processing on the pseudo target pattern with the design pattern as the target pattern. Compared with performing OPC processing on the pseudo target pattern, the difference between the pseudo target pattern and the design pattern near the single point is larger, and the OPC unit 504 can provide more margin for pushing the edge of the pattern inward near the inner corner of the single point during the OPC processing on the pseudo target pattern, thereby preventing the problem of the single point in the pattern after the OPC processing and improving the effect of the OPC.

[0138] In this embodiment, the OPC unit 504 is configured to perform OPC processing on the pseudo target pattern with the design pattern after the etching bias compensation processing as the target pattern.

[0139] In this embodiment, the model-based OPC is taken as an example for illustration. In other embodiments, the rule-based OPC or the mixed model and rule-based OPC can also be used. In some other embodiments, other suitable OPC modes can also be selected.

[0140] In this embodiment, the OPC unit 504 is configured to divide the edges of the pseudo target pattern to obtain a plurality of line segments, perform lithography simulation on the pseudo target pattern based on an OPC model to obtain a simulated exposure pattern, compare the simulated exposure pattern with the target pattern to obtain the edge placement error EPE corresponding to the simulated exposure pattern, and adjust the positions of the line segments based on the edge placement error EPE.

[0141] The OPC unit 504 performs iterative cycles of lithography simulation, calculation of the edge placement error, and adjustment of the positions of the line segments until the edge placement error of the simulated exposure pattern corresponding to the pseudo target pattern is within a preset threshold range.

[0142] In this embodiment, during the division processing of the edges of the pseudo target pattern by the OPC unit 504, the line segments in the second direction have a preset minimum length.

[0143] In this embodiment, since the length of the edge of the compensation pattern in the second direction is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length of the division processing, the length of the edge of the compensation pattern in the second direction can be at least divided into a segment during the division of the edges of the pseudo target pattern by the OPC unit 504, and accordingly, the position of the edge of the compensation pattern in the second direction can be continuously adjusted.

[0144] In the embodiment, the optical proximity correction unit 504 performs optical proximity correction on the pseudo target pattern, and at the position close to the single point, the line segment of the modified pattern corresponding to the compensation pattern along the first direction is recessed relative to the remaining line segment of the modified pattern along the first direction, away from the single point. In addition, at the position close to the single point, a bridge structure is formed to avoid forming a single point, thereby improving the problem of the corner close to the single point being limited by the mask manufacturability rule.

[0145] In the embodiment, the optical proximity correction system 50 further comprises an optical proximity effect verification unit 505 configured to verify the modified pattern. Specifically, the optical proximity effect verification unit 505 is configured to verify the edge placement error corresponding to the modified pattern to verify the effect of the optical proximity correction.

[0146] After the compensation pattern is provided by the pre-modification processing unit 503 and the optical proximity correction unit 504 performs optical proximity correction on the pseudo target pattern, the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during exposure is improved, the effect of the optical proximity correction is improved, the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point is improved, and the edge placement error between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern is reduced, thereby improving the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0147] In addition, in the embodiment, the optical proximity correction system 50 further comprises an etching bias compensation unit 502 configured to perform etching bias compensation on the design pattern. Therefore, after the optical proximity correction unit 504 performs optical proximity correction, the matching degree between the pattern formed on the wafer after the etching process using the modified pattern and the design pattern is high.

[0148] Correspondingly, the application also provides a mask, comprising a pattern obtained by the optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiments of the application.

[0149] As can be known from the foregoing embodiments, the embodiments of the present application provide the compensation pattern at the corner close to the single point of the design pattern, increase the overlapping distance between the edges of the two adjacent patterns close to the single point, and provide more space for pushing the edge of the pattern inward at the inner corner close to the single point in the process of performing the optical proximity effect correction on the pseudo target pattern by taking the design pattern as the target pattern, thereby preventing the problem that the single point still exists in the corrected pattern, and correspondingly, improving the light intensity distribution at the corner close to the single point during the exposure by using the mask provided by the embodiments of the present application, and improving the corner rounding problem at the corner close to the single point, thereby reducing the edge placement error between the simulated exposure pattern and the target pattern, and improving the matching degree between the mask pattern formed on the wafer and the target pattern.

[0150] The embodiments of the present application also provide a device which can implement the optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiments of the present application by loading the above-mentioned pattern design method in the form of a program. An optional hardware structure of the terminal device provided by the embodiments of the present application can be as shown in FIG. 1, which includes at least one processor 01, at least one communication interface 02, at least one memory 03 and at least one communication bus 04. Figure 14

[0151] In the embodiments, the number of the processor 01, the communication interface 02, the memory 03 and the communication bus 04 is at least one, and the processor 01, the communication interface 02 and the memory 03 complete the communication with each other through the communication bus 04. The communication interface 02 can be the interface of the communication module for network communication, such as the interface of the GSM module. The processor 01 can be a central processing unit CPU, or a specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application. The memory 03 can include a high-speed RAM memory, and can also include a non-volatile memory (non-volatile memory, NVM), such as at least one disk memory. The memory 03 stores one or more computer instructions, and the one or more computer instructions are executed by the processor 01 to implement the access control method provided by the embodiments of the present application.

[0152] It should be noted that the terminal device described above can also include other devices (not shown) which can not be necessary for the disclosure of the embodiments of the present application; since these other devices can not be necessary for understanding the disclosure of the embodiments of the present application, the embodiments of the present application do not introduce them one by one.

[0153] ​The embodiment of the present application further provides a storage medium, which stores one or more computer instructions for implementing the optical proximity correction method provided by the embodiment of the present application.

[0154] Embodiments of the present application can be implemented in various means, for example, hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. In a hardware configuration, the method according to the exemplary embodiments of the present application can be implemented by one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, and the like. In a firmware or software configuration, the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in the form of modules, procedures, functions, and the like. Software code can be stored in a memory unit and executed by a processor. The memory unit is located at the interior or exterior of the processor and can deliver data to and receive data from the processor via various known means.

[0155] While the present application has been disclosed by the above, the present application is not limited thereto. Any person skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application, can make various changes and modifications, and thus the scope of protection of the present application should be defined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. An optical proximity correction method, characterized by, The method comprises the following steps: providing a design pattern, corners of adjacent patterns in the design pattern are opposite to each other, and the adjacent patterns have a single intersection point; after the design pattern is provided, performing etching bias compensation processing on the design pattern, so as to compensate a critical dimension of the design pattern based on an etching offset; the step of performing etching bias compensation processing on the design pattern comprises: moving an edge of the design pattern outward by a preset distance along a direction perpendicular to the edge of the design pattern, and increasing an overlapping distance between edges of two adjacent design patterns near the single intersection point; performing pre-correction processing on the design pattern after the etching bias compensation processing, so as to provide a compensation pattern at a corner of the design pattern near the single intersection point after the etching bias compensation processing, the compensation pattern increasing the overlapping distance between the edges of the adjacent patterns near the single intersection point; the compensation pattern and the design pattern after the etching bias compensation processing are used to form a pseudo-target pattern; performing optical proximity correction processing on the pseudo-target pattern by taking the design pattern as a target pattern, to obtain a corrected pattern; in the optical proximity correction processing, the compensation pattern provides a margin for inward pushing of the edge of the pattern at the inner corner near the single intersection point; after the optical proximity correction processing is performed on the pseudo-target pattern, a line segment of the corrected pattern corresponding to the compensation pattern in a first direction is recessed in a direction away from the single intersection point relative to a remaining line segment of the corrected pattern in the first direction, and a bridge structure is formed at a position near the single intersection point.

2. The optical proximity correction method of claim 1, wherein, The design pattern is used to form a cutting layer pattern, the cutting layer pattern is used to cut a to-be-cut layer along a first direction, and a direction perpendicular to the first direction is a second direction.

3. The optical proximity correction method of claim 2, wherein, The pre-correction processing on the design pattern comprises: obtaining a preset threshold distance, the preset threshold distance satisfying that, after the optical proximity correction processing is performed on the pseudo-target pattern to obtain a corrected pattern, an edge placement error between a simulated exposure pattern corresponding to the corrected pattern and a target pattern is within a preset threshold range; based on the preset threshold distance, the compensation pattern is provided at the corner of the design pattern near the single intersection point, and a distance between outer edges of the compensation patterns located on two sides of the single intersection point in the first direction is greater than or equal to the preset threshold distance.

4. The optical proximity correction method of claim 3, wherein, The step of providing the compensation pattern at the corner of the design pattern near the single intersection point based on the preset threshold distance comprises: intercepting a part of an edge of the design pattern along the second direction as a configuration line segment at a position near the single intersection point; and extending the edge of the configuration line segment along the first direction to form the compensation pattern located outside the configuration line segment.

5. The optical proximity correction method of claim 4, wherein, The optical proximity correction processing comprises segmenting processing on edges of the pseudo-target pattern, and a parameter of the segmenting processing comprises a minimum line segment length; The distance between the outer edges of the compensation patterns located on two sides of the single intersection point in the first direction is less than 2 times the minimum line segment length.

6. The optical proximity correction method of claim 3, wherein, The optical proximity correction processing comprises segmenting processing on edges of the pseudo-target pattern, and a parameter of the segmenting processing comprises a minimum line segment length; The preset threshold distance is 0.8 to 0.9 times of the minimum line segment length.

7. The optical proximity correction method of claim 2, wherein, The layer to be cut includes a fin, a gate, or a metal interconnection line.

8. The optical proximity correction method of claim 1, wherein, The optical proximity effect correction processing includes: performing a segmentation processing on the edges of the pseudo target pattern to obtain a plurality of line segments. The photoetching simulation step is performed to simulate photoetching of the pseudo target pattern based on an optical proximity correction model to obtain a simulated exposure pattern. The computing step is performed to compare the simulated exposure pattern with the target pattern to obtain an edge placement error corresponding to the simulated exposure pattern. The adjusting step is performed to adjust the positions of the line segments based on the edge placement error. The photoetching simulation step, the computing step, and the adjusting step are performed once to form one correction cycle, and the iteration processing of multiple correction cycles is performed until the edge placement error of the simulated exposure pattern corresponding to the pseudo target pattern is within a preset threshold range.

9. The optical proximity correction method of claim 8, wherein, The design pattern has edges along a first direction and edges along a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. In the optical proximity effect correction processing of the pseudo target pattern, the line segments segmented along the second direction have a preset minimum length. In the pre-correction processing of the design pattern, the edge length of the compensation pattern along the second direction is greater than or equal to the preset minimum length.

10. The optical proximity correction method of claim 1, wherein, The design pattern is used to form a cut layer pattern for cutting a layer to be cut along a first direction, the layer to be cut extends along the first direction, and a direction perpendicular to the first direction is a second direction; the design pattern includes a first longitudinal edge along the second direction and a second longitudinal edge arranged opposite to the first longitudinal edge in parallel. The etching deviation compensation processing of the design pattern includes: based on an etching offset compensation amount, translating the first longitudinal edge and the second longitudinal edge along the first direction and in a direction of increasing the size of the design pattern.

11. The optical proximity correction method of claim 1, wherein, The optical proximity correction method further includes: after the optical proximity effect correction processing, performing optical proximity effect verification on the corrected pattern.

12. An optical proximity correction system, characterized by, The method comprises: The providing unit is configured to provide a design pattern, in which corners of adjacent patterns are opposite to each other and have a single intersection point. The etching deviation compensation unit is configured to perform etching deviation compensation processing on the design pattern, compensate for a critical dimension of the design pattern based on an etching offset amount, and output the compensated design pattern as a target pattern to an optical proximity effect correction unit. The etching deviation compensation processing of the design pattern includes: moving the edges of the design pattern outward by a preset distance along a direction perpendicular to the edges of the design pattern to increase the overlapping distance between the edges of the two adjacent design patterns near the single intersection point. The pre-correction processing unit is configured to perform a pre-correction processing on the design pattern after the etching bias compensation processing, and provide a compensation pattern at a corner close to the single point of the design pattern after the etching bias compensation processing, the compensation pattern increasing an overlapping distance between edges of adjacent patterns close to the single point; the compensation pattern and the design pattern are used to form a pseudo-target pattern; The optical proximity correction unit is configured to perform an optical proximity correction processing on the pseudo-target pattern with the design pattern as a target pattern, and obtain a corrected pattern; in the optical proximity correction processing, the compensation pattern provides a margin for inward pushing of an edge of the pattern at an inner corner close to the single point, and a line segment of the corrected pattern corresponding to the compensation pattern in a first direction is recessed in a direction away from the single point relative to a remaining line segment of the corrected pattern in the first direction, and a bridge structure is formed at a position close to the single point.

13. The optical proximity correction system of claim 12, wherein, The optical proximity correction system further includes an optical proximity effect verification unit configured to perform an optical proximity effect verification on the corrected pattern.

14. A mask, characterized in that The optical proximity correction system further includes: A pattern obtained by using the optical proximity correction method according to any one of claims 1-11.

15. An apparatus, comprising: A computer readable storage medium storing one or more computer instructions, the one or more computer instructions being used to implement the optical proximity correction method according to any one of claims 1-11.

16. A storage medium, characterized by The storage medium stores one or more computer instructions, the one or more computer instructions being used to implement the optical proximity correction method according to any one of claims 1-11.

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