Patent ID: 7816262

Claim:
A method of creating two pitch photo masks from a half pitched interconnect layout comprising: generating a half pitched interconnect layout comprising a plurality of shapes in the plane of the interconnect layout, wherein the plurality of shapes include a first shape designation, a second shape designation, a third shape designation, and a fourth shape designation, each shape designation having different shapes, and wherein shapes of the same designation are not adjacent in the plane of the interconnect layout; creating a first photo mask containing shapes having any two of the first, second, third, and fourth designations; and creating a second photo mask containing shapes having any one of the designations included in the first photo mask and any one of the designations not included in the first photo mask, wherein the first and second photo masks are dimensioned so that the first and second photo masks generate a half pitch interconnect corresponding to the half pitch interconnect layout when the first and second photo masks are used in a patterning process.