Patent ID: 7818709
Filing Date: 2010-10-19
Classification: G03F

Abstract:
1. A method for generating a photomask comprising: detecting, amongst semiconductor-device design data, small-width area data representing a small width area narrower than a threshold width value of a circuit pattern; determining a detection area including the small width area; applying a rule-based proximity-effect first correction to the semiconductor-device design data to produce first corrected data; detecting, amongst the first corrected data, step data representing a step region of the circuit pattern included in the detection area; modifying the first corrected data to flatten the step region of the circuit pattern to produce second corrected data; applying a model-based proximity-effect second correction to the second corrected data to produce third corrected data; generating exposure data based upon the third corrected data; and generating the photomask according to the exposure data, wherein: the detecting, amongst the semiconductor-device design data, detects the small-width area and corner area data representing a corner area that produces a narrow portion when the model-based proximity-effect correction is applied; and the determining determines the detection area data used for detecting the step data from the small-width area data and the corner area data.