Patent ID: 8584052

Claim:
A method comprising: providing a design of a plurality of cells, each cell including one or more first sites and one or more second sites and patterns comprising a first pattern set associated with a first mask and a second pattern set associated with a second mask; arranging the plurality of cells, after providing the design of the plurality of cells, in a placement region such that adjacent cells have a portion of a pattern from a single pattern set in each boundary site, and boundary sites of adjacent cells alternate between the first site and the second site; associating patterns in boundary sites of the first site with a first mask layout and associating patterns in boundary sites of the second site with a second mask layout; and creating the first mask using the first mask layout and the second mask using the second mask layout, the first mask configured to print a pattern according to the first mask layout, and the second mask configured to print a pattern according to the second mask layout.