Patent ID: 7565001

Claim:
A method of generating a defect severity score report for a physical mask, the method comprising: using a mask inspection system, identifying a defect on a simulated wafer image of the physical mask; identifying a corresponding area on a simulated wafer image of a reference mask, the reference mask corresponding to a defect-free physical mask; identifying a set of neighbor features proximate to the defect on the simulated wafer image of the physical mask; identifying a corresponding set of neighbor features on the simulated wafer image of the reference mask; measuring critical dimensions (CDs) for predetermined defect-free features on the simulated wafer image of the physical mask at different exposures; measuring CDs for corresponding predetermined defect-free features on the simulated wafer image of the reference mask at the different exposures; calculating an average CD deviation for the predetermined defect-free features and the corresponding defect-free features for each exposure; calculating the defect severity score using the average CD deviation for each exposure; and generating the defect severity score report with the defect severity score.