Patent ID: 7745078

Claim:
A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit, the integrated circuit having a surface, the method comprising the steps of: forming a multiplicity of slightly different patterns on the surface using a set of shots of one or more characters on a stencil mask; and reducing the shot count or total write time by use of a character varying technique, wherein the character varying technique comprises at least one of the group consisting of 1) varying a length of time that a character shot in the set of shots is projected on the surface; 2) varying an overlap of a plurality of character shots in the set of shots, the plurality of character shots including at least one shot of a non-simple character; 3) applying partial exposure of a non-simple character on the stencil mask; and 4) varying the position of a character shot in the set of shots with respect to another character shot in the set of shots to form a pattern in the multiplicity of slightly different patterns on the surface, wherein the pattern is curvilinear.