Systematic framework for evaluating standard cell middle-of-line robustness for multiple patterning lithography

Abstract. For robust standard cell design, designers need to improve the intercell compatibility for all combinations of cells and cell placements. Multiple patterning lithography colorability check breaks the locality of traditional rule check, and N-wise checks are strongly needed to verify the colorability for layout interactions across cell boundaries. A systematic framework is proposed to evaluate the library-level robustness over multiple patterning lithography from two perspectives, including complete checks on two-row combinations of cells and long-range interactions. With complete checks on two-row combinations of cells, the vertical and horizontal boundary checks are explored to predict illegal cell combinations. For long-range interactions, random benchmarks are generated by cell shifting and tested to evaluate the placement-level efforts needed to reduce the manufacturing complexity from quadruple patterning lithography to triple patterning lithography for the middle-of-line (MOL) layers. Our framework is tested on the MOL layers but can be easily adapted to other critical layers with multiple patterning lithography constraints.