A new methodology for quantifying OPC recipe accuracy

An integrated methodology for developing recipes for optical proximity correction (OPC) is demonstrated. A complete implementation of software programs for generating the OPC corrections, determining mask and layout errors and automatically displaying contours of the worst violations has been accomplished. Integration of these elements facilitates recipe development by quantifying the effect of recipe changes on the overall critical dimension (CD) control. In this paper, a 65nm alternating aperture phase shift test mask is used for illustration of the method. The concept of a recipe comparison matrix is introduced to quantify the effect of recipe changes on across-chip metrics.