Photolithography Process Tree Expansion Under Hardware Constraints
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current photolithographic processes face challenges in efficiently managing resource allocation and execution sequences for complex processes, particularly in designing or verifying photolithographic components, due to limitations in handling multiple process conditions and hardware constraints.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced that builds a source tree with nodes representing process steps, defines multiple conditions for each node, expands the tree by generating separate nodes for each condition, determines hardware requirements, selects constraints based on available computing resources, and determines an optimal execution sequence to perform the process efficiently.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the source tree is expanded to include separate nodes for each process condition, then the ability to handle multiple process conditions is improved, but the complexity of the process tree and computational overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The process tree is segmented by creating separate nodes for each process condition. When a node has multiple associated conditions, the expansion process divides it into multiple condition-specific nodes, each handling a specific condition. This segmentation allows the system to manage complex multi-condition processes systematically while maintaining clear dependency relationships between nodes.
2Reliability
If dependent nodes are duplicated for each generated separate node, then the accuracy of dependency relationships is improved, but the number of nodes and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system creates copies of dependent nodes for each condition-specific node where they are relevant. When expanding a parent node with multiple conditions, the method duplicates dependent nodes and associates them with the appropriate condition-specific parent nodes. This copying approach ensures that dependency relationships are accurately maintained for each condition while allowing the system to optimize which copies are actually created based on the specific dependency structure.
3Productivity
If hardware requirements are determined for each node and constraints are selected based on computing system capabilities, then the optimization of resource allocation is improved, but the time required for sequence determination increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary determination of hardware requirements for each node before executing the full sequence optimization. By pre-identifying the computational resources needed for each node and pre-selecting appropriate hardware constraints based on system capabilities, the method reduces the time required during actual sequence determination. This preliminary analysis allows for faster optimization of the execution sequence while maintaining effective resource allocation.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of controlling a computer process for designing or verifying a photolithographic component includes building a source tree including nodes of the process, including dependency relationships among the nodes, defining, for some nodes, at least two different process conditions, expanding the source tree to form an expanded tree, including generating a separate node for each different defined process condition, and duplicating dependent nodes having an input relationship to each generated separate node, determining respective computing hardware requirements for processing the node, selecting computer hardware constraints based on capabilities of the host computing system, determining, based on the requirements and constraints and on dependency relations in the expanded tree, an execution sequence for the computer process, and performing the computer process on the computing system.