Patent ID: 7962873

Claim:
A method for approximating with a computer system an average over a plurality of defect sizes of a critical area contributed by a set of at least two object segments in an integrated circuit fabrication layer, comprising the steps of: calculating with the computer system a plurality of critical area contribution values for the set of object segments, each critical area contribution value in the plurality being dependent upon particular layout parameters of a corresponding subset of fewer than all of the objects in the set and being representative of the plurality of defect sizes; summing with the computer system the plurality of critical area contribution values over all the object segments in the set; and approximating with the computer system the average critical area as a function of the sum, wherein the particular layout parameters of each critical area contribution value in the plurality include a member selected from the group consisting of (a) the widths of the object segments in the corresponding subset, the widths of first and second different ones of the object segments in the set being different, and (b) the spacing between pairs of the object segments in the corresponding subset, the spacing between first and second different pairs of the object segments in the set being different.