Integrated circuits and methods of design and manufacture thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9767244-B2
Application number	US-201615093646-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 7, 2016
Priority date	Sep 25, 2007
Publication date	Sep 19, 2017
Grant date	Sep 19, 2017

Abstract

Integrated circuits and methods of manufacture and design thereof are disclosed. For example, a method of manufacturing includes using a first mask to pattern a gate material forming a plurality of first and second features. The first features form gate electrodes of the semiconductor devices, whereas the second features are dummy electrodes. Based on the location of these dummy electrodes, selected dummy electrodes are removed using a second mask. The use of the method provides greater flexibility in tailoring individual devices for different objectives.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of creating a mask set, the mask set comprising a generation mask and an erase mask, the generation mask comprising first dummy features and second dummy features, the method comprising:
generating a first process for placing the first dummy features during layout generation by
generating at least one first marking layer, the at least one first marking layer comprising marking regions and edges for placement of the first dummy features; and
generating at least one first design layer, the at least one first design layer comprising the first dummy features and active features, wherein the active features additionally contain information on placing neighboring first dummy features;

generating a second process for removing the first dummy features; and
placing the first dummy features on a layout.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the second process for removing the first dummy features comprises:
generating at least one second marking layer, the at least one second marking layer comprising marking regions and edges for removal of the first dummy features; and
generating at least one second design layer, the at least one second design layer comprising the first dummy features and the active features, wherein the active features additionally contain information on removing neighboring first dummy features.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein placing the first dummy features is performed automatically after layout generation.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first dummy features are added or removed based on one of information in additional layers in the layout, additional rules, or models.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
placing the second dummy features after layout design but before layout decomposition; and
during placing the second dummy features, completely removing the second dummy features.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
placing the second dummy features after layout design but before layout decomposition; and
during placing the second dummy features, partially removing the second dummy features.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second dummy features are automatically generated.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the second dummy features are added or removed based on one of information in additional layers in the layout, additional rules, or models.

9. The method of claim 6 , further comprising creating the generation mask comprising the first dummy features and the second dummy features and the erase mask comprising features for partially or completely removing the first dummy features and the second dummy features, wherein features on the erase mask do not remove all of the first and second dummy features.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein placing the first dummy features comprises using a rule based description.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein removing the first dummy features comprises using a rule based description.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating at least one first marking layer comprises using a model-based description.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating at least one second marking layer comprises using a model-based description.

14. A method of creating a mask set, the method comprising:
generating a generation mask and an erase mask, the generation mask comprising first dummy features and second dummy features, wherein generating the generation mask and the erase mask comprises
generating at least one first marking layer, the at least one first marking layer comprising marking regions and edges for placement of the first dummy features,
generating at least one first design layer, the at least one first design layer comprising the first dummy features and active features, wherein the active features additionally contain information on placing neighboring first dummy features,
generating at least one second marking layer, the at least one second marking layer comprising marking regions and edges for removal of the first dummy features, and
generating at least one second design layer, the at least one second design layer comprising the first dummy features and the active features, wherein the active features additionally contain information on removing neighboring first dummy features,
placing the first dummy features on a layout for the generation mask;

fabricating the generation mask comprising the first dummy features and the second dummy features; and
fabricating the erase mask comprising features for partially or completely removing the first dummy features.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein placing the first dummy features is performed automatically after layout generation.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first dummy features are added or removed based on one of information in additional layers in the layout, additional rules, or models.

17. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
placing the second dummy features after layout design but before layout decomposition; and
during placing the second dummy features, completely removing the second dummy features.

18. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
placing the second dummy features after layout design but before layout decomposition; and
during placing the second dummy features, partially removing the second dummy features.

19. The method of claim 18 , wherein the second dummy features are automatically generated.

20. The method of claim 18 , wherein the second dummy features are added or removed based on one of information in additional layers in the layout, additional rules, or models.

21. The method of claim 18 , wherein the erase mask further comprises features for partially or completely removing the second dummy features, wherein features on the erase mask do not remove all of the first and second dummy features.

22. The method of claim 14 , wherein generating at least one first marking layer and generating at least one second marking layer comprises using a rule based description.

23. The method of claim 14 , wherein generating at least one first marking layer and generating at least one second marking layer comprises using a model-based description.

24. A method of creating a mask set, the mask set comprising a generation mask and an erase mask, the generation mask comprising first dummy features and second dummy features, the method comprising:
generating a first process for placing the first dummy features during layout generation;
generating a second process for removing the first dummy features; and
placing the first dummy features on a layout;
placing the second dummy features after layout design but before layout decomposition; and
during placing the second dummy features, partially or completely removing the second dummy features.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein partially or completely removing the second dummy features comprises completely removing the second dummy features.

26. The method of claim 24 , wherein partially or completely removing the second dummy features comprises partially removing the second dummy features.

27. The method of claim 24 , wherein the generating the first process comprises:
generating at least one first marking layer, the at least one first marking layer comprising marking regions and edges for placement of the first dummy features; and
generating at least one first design layer

Assignees

• Infineon Technologies Ag

Inventors

• Haffner Henning
• Eller Manfred
• Lindsay Richard

Classifications

• H10P76/408

  characterised by their sizes, orientations, dispositions, behaviours or shapes · CPC title

• H10D64/01326 Primary

  Aspects related to lithography, isolation or planarisation of the conductor · CPC title

• G06F2119/18

  Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability · CPC title

• G03F1/00

  Originals for photomechanical production of textured or patterned surfaces, e.g., masks, photo-masks, reticles; Mask blanks or pellicles therefor; Containers specially adapted therefor; Preparation thereof · CPC title

• G06F30/392 Primary

  Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement · CPC title