Claims
- 1. A phase shifting mask with a plurality of phase shifting areas for use in defining a portion of an integrated circuit (IC) layout of a layer of material, the mask designed for use in conjunction with a second mask, the second mask for protecting structures defined by the mask and defining other structures in the layer of material, the phase shifting areas being defined by the process of:
determining if a first phase shifting area in the plurality of phase shifting areas results in a conflict with a structure in the materials due to proximity effects; modifying the phase shifting mask to include a second phase shifting area such that the structure defined using the phase shifting mask; and modifying the second mask to protect the structure defined by the phase shifting mask.
- 2. The phase shifting mask of claim 1, wherein the process is applied for each phase shifting area in the plurality of phase shifting areas.
- 3. The phase shifting mask of claim 1, wherein the determining further comprises identifying conflicts using one or more of optical, resist, etch, e-beam and microloading proximity effects.
- 4. The phase shifting mask of claim 1, wherein the process further comprises applying proximity correction to at least one of the phase shifting mask and the second mask.
- 5. The phase shifting mask of claim 1, where the process further comprises determining whether a second phase shifting area can be placed to define the structure using the phase shifting mask and in response to a negative determination, identifying the conflict.
- 6. A method of handling proximity conflicts in a phase shifting layout data for a layer of material of an integrated circuit (IC), wherein the phase shifting layout data defines a plurality of phase shifting regions, the method comprising:
determining if a first phase shifting area in the plurality of phase shifting areas results in a conflict with a structure in the materials due to proximity effects; modifying the phase shifting mask to include a second phase shifting area such that the structure defined using the phase shifting mask; and modifying the second mask to protect the structure defined by the phase shifting mask.
- 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the steps are applied for each phase shifting area in the plurality of phase shifting areas.
- 8. The method of claim 6, wherein the determining further comprises identifying conflicts using one or more of optical, resist, etch, e-beam and microloading proximity effects.
- 9. The method of claim 6, wherein λ is a wavelength of light for use in production of the layer of material, wherein the first phase shifter has a plurality of edges, and wherein the determining further comprises computing whether an edge in the plurality of edges is a predetermined multiple of λ away from structures in the layer of the material not being defined by phase shifters in the plurality of phase shifters.
- 10. A method of producing a phase shifting layout data from a portion of an integrated circuit (IC) layout of a layer of material, the method comprising:
identifying a feature in the IC layout for definition with a phase shifting layout using a computer; generating using a computer the phase shifting layout data using the IC layout, the phase shifting layout data defining phase shifting areas in an opaque field for defining the feature in the material, the phase shifting layout data adapted to be used in conjunction with a second layout data, the second layout data defining other structures in the material, and preventing erasure of the feature, the second layout data corresponding to a trim mask for use in conjunction with a phase shifting mask corresponding to the phase shifting layout data; determining using a computer if the phase shifting layout data will result in a conflict with other structure in the material; and modifying the phase shifting layout data to resolve the conflict by adjusting the phase shifting layout to correct for the conflict with other structure in the material using the computer.
- 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining further comprises identifying conflicts using one or more of optical, resist, etch, e-beam and microloading proximity effects.
- 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the modifying corrects for one or more of optical, resist, etch, e-beam and microloading proximity effects.
- 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the modifying corrects for one or more of optical, resist, etch, e-beam and microloading proximity effects.
- 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the modifying comprises adding at least one phase shifting area to the plurality of phase shifting areas to cause definition of conflicting structures using the phase shifting mask and wherein the method further comprises:
modifying the second layout data to protect conflicting structures defined by the phase shifting mask.
- 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the phase shifting mask for use with a positive tone resist.
RELATED APPLICATION
[0001] The present application is a continuation in part of the following:
[0002] This application is related to, claims the benefit of priority of, and incorporates by reference, the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/905,420, filed Jul. 13, 2001, entitled “Alternating Phase Shift Mask Design Conflict Resolution”, having inventors Hua-Yu Liu, Christophe Pierrat and Kent Richardson, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09905420 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
10272104 |
Oct 2002 |
US |