Irregular graph splitting method and readable storage medium
By using virtual filling and pre-coloring steps, irregular graphics are transformed into regular graphics, solving the problems of high computational complexity and poor process reliability in existing technologies, and achieving efficient and accurate graphic splitting.
Patent Information
- Application Number
- CN202511786074.7
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-11-28
- Publication Date
- 2026-01-20
AI Technical Summary
Existing technologies suffer from high computational complexity and poor process reliability when splitting irregular patterns, resulting in process defects such as insufficient pattern spacing and shape distortion, which seriously affect the process window and yield of devices.
By introducing a virtual filling step to shape irregular shapes into regular shapes, and combining this with a pre-shaping step, the pattern splitting rules are designed based on the capabilities of the lithography machine, thereby reducing computational load and improving splitting speed and efficiency.
It effectively reduces the computational complexity of graphic decomposition, reduces the risk of contradictions arising from decomposing irregular graphics, and improves the decomposition speed and the accuracy of the results.
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Figure CN121364609A_ABST
Abstract
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The present application relates to the technical field of semiconductor manufacturing, and particularly relates to a splitting method for irregular patterns and a readable storage medium. BACKGROUND
[0002] In the semiconductor manufacturing process, with the continuous evolution of the technology node, the pattern size of some key layers has approached or even exceeded the lithography physical limit of the 193nm light source. In order to overcome this limitation, the industry generally adopts a multiple exposure technology, that is, the patterns on the original layout are disassembled to multiple mask plates, and the pattern transfer is realized through the cycle process of multiple exposure and etching.
[0003] At present, for such pattern splitting, the commonly used method is to write a script according to the established rules and hand it over to the special splitting software for automatic processing. However, when facing complex irregular patterns, this traditional method has obvious limitations:
[0004] High computational complexity: when the number of mask plates to be split increases (for example, four-color or more splitting), the coloring process may fail due to excessive computation, or the running time is unacceptable due to the need for a large amount of exhaustive search;
[0005] Poor process reliability: due to the lack of regularity in the distribution of irregular patterns, effective and targeted manual intervention is difficult to implement. This leads to process defects such as insufficient pattern spacing and shape distortion in the splitting results generated by the software, which seriously restricts the process window and yield of the final device. SUMMARY
[0006] The purpose of the present application is to provide a splitting method for irregular patterns and a readable storage medium to solve the problems of high computational complexity and poor process reliability of existing splitting technology.
[0007] To solve the above technical problems, the present application provides a splitting method for irregular patterns, comprising the following steps:
[0008] An original layout is provided, and pattern splitting rules and pattern design rules are designed according to the lithography capability of the lithography machine used in the actual lithography scene;
[0009] According to the pattern design rules, and the geometric characteristics and distribution rules of the irregular patterns in the original layout, virtual filling patterns are added in the original layout to reshape the irregular patterns into regular patterns;
[0010] According to the pattern splitting rules, the regular patterns are analyzed for splitting to obtain at least one splitting solution that can be executed by the lithography machine;
[0011] According to the splitting solution, the regular patterns with the same feature are pre-colored, and the regular patterns with different features are distinguished by different colors.
[0012] The regular patterns are split, and the dummy fill patterns are removed to obtain a final splitting result.
[0013] Optionally, the irregular pattern includes a pattern that cannot be obtained by translation of a partial pattern and needs to be split into multiple mask plates.
[0014] Optionally, the pre-coloring is configured to pre-color the regular patterns with the same feature in the splitting solution and fixedly assign to the corresponding mask plate, so as to distinguish the regular patterns with different features by different colors.
[0015] Optionally, the splitting analysis of the regular pattern according to the pattern splitting rule includes: splitting analysis of the regular pattern by constructing a pattern distribution matrix to obtain at least one splitting solution that can be executed by the photolithography machine.
[0016] Optionally, the splitting method is suitable for a four-color and / or four-color or more pattern splitting process.
[0017] Optionally, the pattern splitting rule is configured to have a vertical splitting interval of at least 74 nm and a horizontal splitting interval of at least 102 nm; wherein the interval is configured as the shortest distance between two adjacent regular patterns in the same mask plate.
[0018] Optionally, before the splitting analysis of the regular pattern, the splitting method further includes the following steps:
[0019] The regular pattern obtained by the shaping is subjected to cutting processing to obtain a regularly arranged splitting pattern.
[0020] Optionally, the pre-coloring includes manual pre-coloring.
[0021] The application also provides a readable storage medium, which stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed to perform any one of the above splitting methods.
[0022] In summary, the present application provides a non-regular pattern splitting method and readable storage medium, comprising: providing an original layout, designing pattern splitting rules and pattern design rules according to lithography capability; adding a virtual filling pattern according to the pattern design rules to reshape the non-regular pattern into a regular pattern; splitting and analyzing the regular pattern according to the pattern splitting rules to obtain a splitting general solution; pre-coloring the regular pattern with the same feature according to the splitting general solution to distinguish the regular pattern with different features by different colors; splitting the uncolored regular pattern, removing the virtual filling pattern, and obtaining a final splitting result; the readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed to perform the splitting method.
[0023] The technical scheme provided by the present application has the following beneficial effects:
[0024] By introducing a virtual filling step, the non-regular pattern is converted into a regular pattern, the computational complexity of pattern splitting is reduced, the required calculation amount of pattern splitting is reduced, and the risk of generating contradictory patterns due to splitting of non-regular patterns and excessive mask templates is avoided.
[0025] By introducing a pre-coloring step, the mask template attribution of part of the pattern is fixed in advance according to the pattern feature, the required calculation amount of pattern splitting is further reduced, and the pattern splitting speed is improved. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0026] Figure 1 The flowchart of the non-regular pattern splitting method provided by the present application embodiment;
[0027] Figures 2-5 The present application embodiment Figure 1 The layout schematic diagram corresponding to each step;
[0028] Among them, the following is explained:
[0029] 10-virtual filling pattern; 100-original layout. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0030] The splitting method of irregular patterns, the readable storage medium of the present application are further described in detail below in combination with the drawings and specific embodiments. It should be noted that the drawings are all very simplified and all use non-precise proportions, only for the purpose of facilitating and clearly assisting the description of the embodiments of the present application. In addition, the structures shown in the drawings are often part of the actual structures. In particular, the emphasis of each drawing needs to be different, sometimes different proportions are used. It should be recognized that relative terms such as "above", "below", "top", "bottom" shown in the drawings can be used to describe the relationship between various elements. These relative terms are intended to cover different orientations of the elements in addition to the orientation depicted in the drawings. For example, if the device is inverted with respect to the view in the drawing, the element described as "above" another element, for example, will now be below the element. It should also be understood that the terms "first", "second", "third" and the like in the description are merely used to distinguish various components, elements, steps and the like in the description, and are not intended to represent a logical relationship or a sequential relationship between the various components, elements, steps and the like.
[0031] Reference Figure 1 As shown, the embodiment of the present application provides a splitting method of irregular patterns, comprising the following steps:
[0032] S1, providing an original layout 100, designing pattern splitting rules and pattern design rules according to the lithography capability of the lithography machine used in the actual lithography scene;
[0033] S2, according to the pattern design rules, and the geometric characteristics and distribution rules of the irregular patterns in the original layout, adding a virtual filling pattern 10 in the original layout to reshape the irregular patterns into regular patterns;
[0034] S3, according to the pattern splitting rules, splitting and analyzing the regular patterns to obtain at least one splitting solution that can be executed by the lithography machine;
[0035] S4, according to the splitting solution, pre-coloring the regular patterns with the same characteristics to distinguish the regular patterns with different characteristics by different colors;
[0036] S5, splitting the uncolored regular patterns, removing the virtual filling pattern 10 to obtain the final splitting result.
[0037] The embodiment of the present application also provides a readable storage medium, the readable storage medium stores a computer program, the computer program is executed to execute the above splitting method.
[0038] By using the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the present application, the irregular graph can be shaped into a regular graph through virtual filling, the calculation amount required by graph splitting is reduced, and the probability of occurrence of a risk graph leading to a contradiction is reduced, and the calculation amount required by graph splitting is further reduced through a pre-coloring step, so as to improve the splitting speed and splitting efficiency.
[0039] Next, the splitting method of the irregular graph provided by the embodiment of the present application is further described. Figures 2-5 Next, the splitting method of the irregular graph provided by the embodiment of the present application is further described.
[0040] Referring to Figure 2 As shown in FIG. 1, step S1 is performed to provide an original layout 100 including an irregular graph. Preferably, the irregular graph includes a graph that cannot be obtained by translation of a partial graph and needs to be split into multiple mask plates. Then, a graph splitting rule and a graph design rule are designed according to the lithography capability of a lithography machine used in an actual lithography scene in the embodiment of the present application. As a preferred solution, the graph splitting rule in the embodiment is configured to have a vertical splitting interval of at least 74 nm and a horizontal splitting interval of at least 102 nm. The interval is configured to be the shortest distance between two adjacent regular graphs in the same mask plate.
[0041] Referring to Figure 3 As shown in FIG. 2, step S2 is performed to add a virtual filling graph 10 to a non-graph area in the original layout 100 according to the graph design rule and in combination with the geometric features and distribution rules of the irregular graph in the original layout 100. The virtual filling graph 10 is used to shape the irregular graph into a regular graph. Preferably, the virtual filling graph 10 in the embodiment of the present application is configured to satisfy the graph splitting rule and cover all the graph distribution allowed by the graph design rule. Therefore, the shape and filling position of the virtual filling graph 10 are not unique, and the filling method used in the embodiment of the present application is only a preferred example and does not constitute a limitation on the present application.
[0042] Referring to Figure 4As shown, preferably, to improve the splitting efficiency, in the embodiment of the present application, before the splitting analysis of the regular pattern, the following step is further included: cutting the regular pattern in the layout to obtain a regular-arranged splitting pattern; then, step S3 is performed to analyze the regular pattern in the layout according to the pattern splitting rule, preferably, the splitting analysis of the regular pattern is performed by constructing a pattern distribution matrix to obtain a splitting solution, then the pattern density of the splitting solution is confirmed to ensure that the splitting solution can be executed by a photolithography machine. The splitting solution is at least one, because of the distribution of the regular pattern, after the splitting analysis, multiple splitting solutions can also be obtained.
[0043] Reference Figure 5 As shown, step S4 is performed to analyze the splitting solution, the regular patterns with the same feature in the splitting solution are pre-colored and assigned to the corresponding mask plate, that is, the regular patterns with the same feature are assigned to the same mask plate, so that the pattern distribution in the final splitting result is uniform, and the calculation amount generated in the splitting process due to the exhaustive analysis is reduced, the pre-colored color in the same mask plate is the same, and the regular patterns with different features are distinguished by different colors; preferably, the pre-coloring of the regular pattern can be performed in an artificial pre-coloring manner.
[0044] Reference Figure 5 As shown, step S5 is performed to assign the regular patterns without coloring in the splitting layout to a mask plate by using a script and perform splitting, then the virtual filling patterns 10 in each mask plate are removed to obtain the final splitting result.
[0045] As a preferred solution, the splitting method of the irregular pattern provided by the present application is suitable for splitting complex patterns, that is, suitable for a four-color and / or four-color or more pattern splitting process. When splitting complex and irregular patterns, the original layout 100 needs to run for 6 min to obtain a splitting result by using a traditional splitting strategy, and the output splitting result can also violate the splitting rule. By using the splitting method provided by the present application, through the combination of virtual filling and pre-coloring technologies, the calculation amount required for splitting patterns is greatly reduced, and only 36 s is needed to complete the splitting, and the output splitting result is correct, and there is no risk pattern that violates the splitting rule.
[0046] In some other embodiments, a readable storage medium can also be provided, the readable storage medium stores a computer program, when the computer program is executed, the splitting method provided by the embodiment of the present application.
[0047] The readable storage medium can be a tangible device that can retain and store instructions for use by an instruction execution device. The readable storage medium can be, for example but is not limited to, an electronic storage device, a magnetic storage device, an optical storage device, an electromagnetic storage device, a semiconductor storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium include the following: a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), a static random access memory (SRAM), a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a memory stick, a floppy disk, and / or a mechanism of
[0048] In summary, the embodiment of the present application provides a non-regular pattern splitting method and readable storage medium, comprising: providing an original layout, designing pattern splitting rules and pattern design rules according to lithography capability; adding a virtual filling pattern according to the pattern design rules to reshape the non-regular pattern into a regular pattern; splitting and analyzing the regular pattern according to the pattern splitting rules to obtain a splitting general solution; pre-coloring the regular patterns with the same characteristics according to the splitting general solution to distinguish the regular patterns with different characteristics by different colors; splitting the uncolored regular pattern, removing the virtual filling pattern, and obtaining a final splitting result; the readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed to perform the splitting method. The non-regular pattern is converted into a regular pattern by virtual filling, and then pre-coloring is performed, which solves the problems of high computational complexity and poor process reliability of the existing splitting technology.
[0049] The above description is only the description of the preferred embodiments of the present application, and is not any limitation on the scope of the present application. Any change and modification made by the person skilled in the art according to the above disclosure is within the protection scope of the claims.
Claims
1. A method for splitting an irregular pattern, characterized by, The method comprises the following steps: providing an original layout, designing a pattern splitting rule and a pattern design rule according to the lithography capability of a lithography machine used in an actual lithography scene; adding a virtual filling pattern to the original layout according to the pattern design rule and the geometric characteristics and distribution rule of an irregular pattern in the original layout, to reshape the irregular pattern into a regular pattern; splitting and analyzing the regular pattern according to the pattern splitting rule, to obtain at least one splitting general solution that can be executed by the lithography machine; pre-coloring the regular patterns with the same characteristics according to the splitting general solution, and distinguishing the regular patterns with different characteristics by different colors; splitting the regular pattern without coloring and removing the virtual filling pattern, to obtain a final splitting result.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The irregular pattern includes a pattern that cannot be obtained by the translation of a partial pattern and needs to be split into multiple mask plates.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The pre-coloring is configured to pre-color the regular patterns with the same characteristics in the splitting general solution and fixedly assign them to corresponding mask plates, to distinguish the regular patterns with different characteristics by different colors.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein, The splitting and analyzing of the regular pattern according to the pattern splitting rule comprises splitting and analyzing the regular pattern by constructing a pattern distribution matrix, to obtain at least one splitting general solution that can be executed by the lithography machine.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The splitting method is suitable for a four-color and / or more than four-color pattern splitting process.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein, The pattern splitting rule is configured to have a vertical splitting interval of at least 74 nm and a horizontal splitting interval of at least 102 nm, wherein the interval is configured as the shortest distance between two adjacent regular patterns in the same mask plate.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein, Before splitting and analyzing the regular pattern, the splitting method further comprises the following steps: cutting the regular pattern obtained by reshaping, to obtain a regularly arranged splitting pattern.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein, The pre-coloring comprises manual pre-coloring.
9. A readable storage medium, characterized by, The readable storage medium stores a computer program, which, when executed, performs the splitting method according to any one of claims 1-7.