Patent ID: 8458623

Claim:
A system for determining placement of a mask pattern with respect to a mask blank, said system comprising a computing means comprising a processor and a memory in communication with said processor and configured to perform a method comprising steps of: overlaying an image of a mask pattern over an image of a mask blank annotated with a center location and at least one dimension parameter of each of measured mask defects; generating design clips centered at each of said measured defects and having a same design clip size and a same design clip shape from said image of said mask pattern; generating a binary pixel image for each of said design clips; logically compiling, pixel by pixel, said generated binary pixel images to generate a composite pixel map; and determining, from said composite pixel map, presence or absence of a pattern shift vector representing a lateral shift of said mask blank from a position at said overlaying, said lateral shift being selected to eliminate or minimize an impact of said measured mask defects during a lithographic process.