Process Proximity Compensation

Meet the stringent accuracy, short turnaround time, and flexible ease-of-use requirements for all process technologies with Cadence^® Process Proximity Compensation (PPC). This is a third-generation computational lithography solution suite and is production-proven from large nodes to most advanced processes to deliver the best post-etch CD accuracy and process window on silicon for every layer.

With the increasing gap between the capabilities of available lithography equipment and the requirements of aggressive device scaling, traditional optical proximity correction (OPC) / resolution enhancement technology (RET) methodologies are not able to keep up with the stringent computational lithography demands. You’ll likely need to work to enhance accuracy and ease-of-use and to accelerate mask cycle time. Coupled with the increasing cost of R&D investment and limited human resources, OPC teams are challenged to deliver better OPC model accuracy and maintain the same mask cycle time for an advanced technology node as they did for the previous technology node.

That’s where PPC comes in, delivering a complete and comprehensive third-generation mask pattern synthesis solution built from the ground up for correct-by-construction OPC with the fastest mask cycle time.

Features:

• Production-proven and most accurate industry-leading litho, etches, and mask models
• Physics-based predictive process model (PPM) provides rigorous inversion of the patterning process and patented optimization techniques for correct-by-construction OPC
• Multiple-area source optimization and source mask optimization combined with the hybrid SRAF placement solution maximize overall process window for given DOF
• GUI or script-based input provide flexibility for recipe creation/optimization
• Pipelined distributed processing of all mask pattern synthesis and verification steps on general-purpose hardware delivers unmatched mask turnaround time and the lowest cost of ownership