As more aggressive Resolution Enhancement Techniques (RET) are applied, the problem of correctly fragmenting edges of an OPC mask is becoming more complex. OPC recipes contain more lines devoted to control of fragmentation than anything else. This paper introduces a new Automatic Adaptive Fragmentation method that decreases the complexity of OPC recipes while providing the same or better quality of results. The adaptive fragmentation is guided by just a few simple rules that provide flexible fragmentation while adhering to mask manufacturing rule constraints.

No abstract