Patent ID: 7763396

Claim:
A method for fabricating a semiconductor chip, comprising: receiving a reticle which includes a pre-determined high-resolution region and a pre-determined region outside of the high-resolution region, wherein the high-resolution region provides sharp optical focus for a given wavelength of light used by a lithography system, and wherein the region outside of the high-resolution region provides a lower resolution of optical focus, and wherein the region outside of the high-resolution region surrounds a periphery of the high-resolution region; placing patterns for components which require fine line-widths within the high-resolution region of the reticle; placing patterns for components which do not require fine line-widths within the region outside of the high-resolution region of the reticle, thereby utilizing the region outside of the high-resolution region of the reticle instead of avoiding the region outside of the high-resolution region of the reticle; wherein the coarseness for components placed within the region outside of the high-resolution region of the reticle is increased to compensate for the loss of optical focus outside of the high-resolution region.