Patent ID: 7693694

Claim:
A computer implemented shape simulation method for generating a surface shape of an electronic device during semiconductor manufacturing process, comprising: specifying manufacturing process conditions and parameters for material growth, material inside information to be computed, and a time interval for advancing a simulation process; defining a plurality of lattice points in a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space for the material growth and allocating memory space for storing information of each of the plurality of lattice points; computing growth of a material surface and changes in a material surface shape for a selected computing time of the simulation based on the manufacturing process conditions and parameters; computing a level value for each lattice point representing a distance from the material surface to the lattice point; computing material inside information if the surface passes through the lattice point due to the material growth and changes in the material surface shape; wherein the material inside information is computed by: determining if a sign of the level value at the lattice point at the selected computing time is different from the sign of the level value at the lattice point at an immediately preceding computing time indicating the sign is inverted; and computing the material inside information if the sign is inverted; and repeating the steps of computing the level value and computing the material inside information for the plurality of lattice points in the space for the material growth; incrementing the selected computing time of the simulation by the time interval for advancing the simulation process; and repeating the steps of computing the growth of the material surface and the changes in the material surface shape, computing level values and computing material inside information for the plurality of lattice points for the computing time of the simulation, until a specified termination condition is reached; and outputting a final surface shape formed during the manufacturing process on a display device.