Abstract: Systems and methods for analyzing a semiconductor layout design around a point of interest (POI) are disclosed. Semiconductor layout designs are a representation of an integrated circuit in terms of planar geometric shapes which make up the components of the integrated circuit, and are used to manufacture the integrated circuit. The layout design may be analyzed using one or more POI-based approaches to determine whether to modify the layout design. In one POI-based approach, set of kernels, tailored to the downstream application, are convolved with a representation of the layout design about or around the POI in order to generate a signature associated with the POI. In turn, the signatures may be analyzed based on the downstream application. Another POI-based approach consists of analyzing geometrical parameters associated with the POI, which may be used during a design stage to identify and modify problem areas in the layout design.

Abstract: Systems and methods for semi-supervised hotspot detection and classification are disclosed. Hotspots comprise layout pattern that induce printability issues in the lithography process. To detect hotspots, one feature vector, such as an n-dimensional feature vector, is compared with other feature vector(s). The comparison between feature vectors may comprise determining a distance, such as a Euclidian distance, in order to determine closeness between the feature vectors. For example, a training dataset, that includes known hotspots and known non-hotspots, is used in order to determine threshold(s). In particular, for one, some, or all of the known hotspots in the training dataset, a distance to a closest known hotspot and a closest known non-hotspot may be calculated to determine the threshold(s).

Abstract: The length of an optical simulation site for an edge fragment may be determined based on the maximum and minimum intensity locations near the edge fragment. The width/space centerline's location may be used to approximate the minimum/maximum intensity location. The methods help reduce the optical proximity correction runtime without sacrificing the optical proximity correction output quality.