JP2003098651A - Method for selecting dimension measuring position of lsi pattern, method for preparing dimension measuring information, and method for deciding dimension measuring order - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To select a dimension measuring position from a real pattern inside a chip area on a semiconductor wafer without making troubles and without making any mistakes in a short time. SOLUTION: In selecting a dimension measuring position of a photomask or a pattern in an LSI chip area on a wafer processed by using the photomask from layout data of an LSI by using a CAD device, steps are provided for: obtaining a dimension measuring position selection condition of an LSI pattern: preparing design rule check (DRC) command description for selecting a dimension measuring position of the LSI pattern from the layout data of the LSI on the basis of the dimension measuring position selection condition; inputting the DRC description and the LSI pattern and performing design rule check; and limiting the number of dimension measuring positions for extracting as many as the required number of dimension measuring positions by using dimension measuring position candidates to an LSI pattern outputted by performing the DRC as an input.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer or an LSI (semiconductor integrated circuit) pattern dimension measurement location formed in each chip area on a wafer processed using the photomask. The present invention relates to a selection method, a measurement information creation method, and a measurement order determination method, which are used to guarantee the dimensional quality (accuracy) of an LSI pattern when designing a photomask using a CAD (computer-aided design) device. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in the manufacture of an LSI, a photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer or a wafer processed using the photomask (hereinafter, referred to as a processed wafer) is used to measure the size of an LSI pattern on the mask. LSI
This is achieved by measuring a dimension measurement mark that is arranged in advance outside the chip area.

However, as the processing size becomes finer, there arises a problem that the correlation between the finished dimension of the dimension measurement mark under the special environment outside the chip area and the finished dimension of the pattern inside the chip area becomes smaller. It was

In order to solve this problem, in recent years, the quality (accuracy) of the photomask mask and the processed wafer has been guaranteed by measuring the pattern dimension inside the chip region.

Conventionally, layout data or EB (electron beam) is used to select a pattern dimension measurement point inside a chip area in a photomask or a processed wafer.
The drawing data was displayed on the viewer and the appropriate measurement points were manually selected.

However, it is necessary to select hundreds of measurement points for one photomask or a processed wafer, and if the work is done manually, it takes a long time and labor to select the measurement points, resulting in a work error. There were problems such as frequent occurrence.

When the selection of the pattern dimension measurement location is automatically executed by using an electronic computer, the existing CAD tool is used to extract an appropriate portion such as the width and space of the LSI pattern as the pattern dimension measurement location. It can be realized by the Design Rule Check (DRC) function.

However, the number extracted using the DRC function depends on the layout data or the EB drawing data and cannot be known in advance, and usually a very large number is extracted. The number of measurement points is fixed or limited to a certain range due to the time constraint of the dimension measurement work, and it is also necessary to uniformly disperse the measurement points in the photomask or the processed wafer. Therefore, it has been demanded to realize a means for selecting a specific number of dimension measurement points so as to be uniformly dispersed in a photomask or a processed wafer from a large number of dimension measurement point candidates.

Further, as described above, when the processing for extracting an appropriate portion as the dimension measurement portion of the LSI pattern is realized by the DRC function, when only the figure (rectangle) of the measurement portion is output as the extraction result, the rectangle There was a problem that the measurement direction and measurement dimensions could not be determined depending on the aspect ratio.

Further, conventionally, the size of the LSI pattern used for measuring the size of the photomask or the processed wafer is added to the design data, so that the size on the design data becomes complicated due to complicated graphic processing. When a process that changes the dimension on the mask is performed, it is necessary to obtain the dimension value by adding the content of the process.

However, in recent years, OPC (0ptical Pro
In many cases, it is not possible to simply obtain the dimensions on the photomask from the design data due to processing such as ximity correction) processing, and the time and effort to create information for dimension measurement increases.

Further, as the order of measuring the pattern dimensions on the processed wafer, conventionally, as shown in FIG. 18, for example, measurement points 1, 2, 3 of adjacent four LSI chip areas CHIP1 to CHIP4 are arranged. As for arrow No. 4, as shown by the arrow in the figure, "a method of sorting by using the X coordinate of the measurement location as the first key and the Y coordinate as the second key" or "the Y coordinate of the measurement location as the first key, the X coordinate How to sort as the second key "
Was adopted.

At this time, when the operator who performs the dimension measurement work performs the dimension measurement while visually comparing the drawing showing the measurement pattern with the measured pattern, the measured pattern is different for each measurement, so that the measurement efficiency is improved. There was a problem of being bad.

[0014]

As described above, when manually selecting the pattern dimension measurement location of the conventional photomask or the processed wafer, it takes a long time and labor to select the measurement location, and a work error occurs. There were problems such as frequent occurrence.

Further, when a large number of measurement points are extracted by using the DRC function when selecting the pattern dimension measurement points of the photomask or the processed wafer, a specific number is selected so as to be uniformly dispersed in the photomask or the processed wafer. There has been a demand for the realization of a means for selecting the dimensional measurement points. At this time, if only the figure (rectangle) at the measurement location is extracted, there is a problem that the measurement direction and measurement dimension cannot be determined depending on the aspect ratio of the rectangle. In addition, when processing such that the dimensions on the design data and the dimensions on the mask are changed due to complicated graphic processing, it is necessary to add the dimensions of the processing to give the dimension value. There has been a problem that it takes a lot of time to create information for measurement.

Further, in the conventional determination of the pattern dimension measurement order on the processed wafer, there is a problem that the measurement efficiency is poor because the pattern to be measured is different for each measurement.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and when a pattern dimension measurement point on a photomask or a processed wafer is automatically selected by using a CAD device, it is automatically and at high speed. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern that can be appropriately selected.

Further, according to the present invention, when pattern dimension measurement points of a photomask or a processed wafer are automatically selected by using a CAD device, a large number of dimension measurement point candidates are uniformly dispersed in the photomask. It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern that can select a specific number of dimension measurement points.

Another object of the present invention is to prepare design data in accordance with complicated graphic processing when creating information used for dimension measurement of an LSI pattern on a photomask or a processed wafer. An object of the present invention is to provide a method for creating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern, which can easily create information used for dimension measurement of a mask even when the pattern size on the mask changes variously.

Another object of the present invention is to lighten the burden on the operator who performs the dimension measurement work when determining the dimension measurement order of the LSI pattern on the processed wafer, improving the measurement efficiency and reducing the measurement error. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for determining a dimension measurement order of an LSI pattern that can be realized.

[0021]

A method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern according to the present invention includes a photomask or an LSI chip on a wafer processed using the photomask from an LSI layout data by using a computer-aided design apparatus. When selecting the dimension measurement point of the pattern of the area, the LSI
Means for obtaining conditions for selecting dimension measurement points of a pattern, means for creating a design rule check command description for selecting dimension measurement points of an LSI pattern from layout data of an LSI based on the conditions for selecting dimension measurement points, and the design rule Check command description and LSI
A means for executing a design rule check by using a pattern as an input, and a number limiting means for extracting a required number of dimension measurement points by inputting the dimension measurement point candidates of the LSI pattern output by the execution of the design rule check Is characterized by.

In addition, the method of selecting the dimension measurement location of the LSI pattern of the present invention uses a computer-aided design apparatus to determine the pattern of the LSI chip area on the wafer processed from the photomask or the layout data of the LSI using the layout data of the LSI. A means for obtaining at least the number of dimension measurement points to be selected and a rectangular area coordinate value that defines the entire area of the photomask or the processed wafer when at least the dimension measurement location candidate is extracted and the dimension measurement location is selected from the candidates. Is obtained, the area is divided into two equal parts in the x direction based on the rectangular area coordinate values and the number of dimension measurement points assigned to the area, and the dimension measurement point candidates existing in each area are divided. The first step of allocating an appropriate number of dimension measurement points to each area according to the number, and the rectangular area coordinate values and the allocation to the area. A second step of dividing the area into equal parts in the y direction based on the number of dimension measurement points, and allocating an appropriate number of dimension measurement points to each area according to the number of dimension measurement point candidates existing in each area, The first
In the step and the second step, when the number of dimension measurement points of a certain area is 1, the dimension measurement point candidate in that area or the dimension measurement point candidate existing closest to the center point of the area is dimensioned. The method is characterized in that the second step or the first step is applied to the region and the number of dimension measurement points allocated to the region when the number of dimension measurement points in a certain region is two or more, which is selected as a measurement point. To do.

The LSI pattern dimension measurement information creating method of the present invention uses a computer-aided design apparatus to extract a pattern of an LSI chip area on a wafer processed from a photomask or LSI using layout data of the LSI. When creating dimension measurement information for selecting dimension measurement points, add graphic data indicating the dimension measurement points to the layout data of the LSI, and use this graphic data to determine the measurement position, dimension value, and measurement direction. It is characterized by obtaining.

In addition, the method of determining the dimension measurement order of the LSI pattern of the present invention is a photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer or L on a wafer processed using the photomask.
When measuring the dimension of the SI pattern, it is possible to determine the measurement order by sorting each chip area in a fixed order with respect to the pattern of the same coordinates in the adjacent LSI chip areas on the photomask or the wafer. Characterize.

[0025]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment> FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention.
3 shows an overall process of a method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern of a photomask (or a processed wafer processed using the same) used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer according to the embodiment of FIG.

When selecting a dimension measuring portion of a pattern of an LSI chip area on a wafer processed by using a photomask or the layout data of the LSI using a CAD device, as shown in FIG. An LSI pattern size measurement location selection condition file 10 is obtained. Then, the DRC command description is created by the function 11 for creating the DRC command description for selecting the dimension measurement location of the LSI pattern from the layout data of the LSI based on the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10, and the DRC command description file 12 is created. To store.

Next, based on the DRC command description input from the DRC command description file 12 and the LSI layout pattern data input from the LSI layout pattern data file 13, the DRC function 14 performs the DRC.
And the dimension measurement location candidate data of the LSI pattern output by this execution is stored in the dimension measurement location candidate file 15.

Next, the dimension measurement location candidate file 15
Based on the data input from the data and the data obtained by the DRC function 14, the required number of dimension measurement points is extracted by the number limitation function 16 to extract the dimension measurement points,
Dimension measurement point data 1 for the extracted dimension measurement point data
Store in 7.

FIG. 2 shows an example of the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10 describing the dimension measurement location selection conditions in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a DR for selecting a dimension measurement point in FIG.
A specific example of the C command description creating function 11 is shown.

This function receives the conditions described in the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10 and the DRC command description template as input, and the variable parameters of the description in the template are described in the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10. The DRC command description file (12 in FIG. 1) is output as a file that can be input to the DRC function (14 in FIG. 1).

FIGS. 4A to 4D show the DRC in FIG.
It is a figure for demonstrating the process in which a dimension measurement location candidate is selected from a layout pattern, when the function 14 is performed.

That is, when input as layout data corresponding to the layout pattern shown in FIG.
The DRC function follows the DRC command description A = (a command description for extracting a portion with a width of min-width or more and less than max-width from Layer) corresponding to condition 1 in the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10 shown in FIG. , A pattern portion a having an appropriate width is selected as shown in FIG.
And

Next, the DRC command description B = (the command description for extracting the part from A to the interval min-space or more and less than max-space) corresponding to condition 2 in the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10 shown in FIG. Accordingly, as shown in FIG. 4C, the pattern portion b having an appropriate interval is selected and the intermediate layer B is selected.
And

Next, a DRC command description C = (corresponding to condition 3 in the dimension measurement location selection condition file 10 shown in FIG. 2) is a command description for extracting a portion from B to a length of min-length or more and less than max-length. ), The pattern portion c having an appropriate length is selected as shown in FIG.
Then, as a result, it is output to the dimension measurement location candidate file (15 in FIG. 1).

As described above, the number limit function (16 in FIG. 1) limits the number required for dimension measurement from the large number of dimension measurement location candidates extracted by the DRC function 14 and stored in the dimension measurement location candidate file 15. And output to the dimension measurement location file 17. At this time, the number is narrowed down from the LSI layout figure for each condition such as the pattern width, interval, length, etc. as shown in FIG. 4 (A), (B) or (C).

That is, in the dimension measuring point selecting method according to the first embodiment, the dimension of the pattern of the LSI chip area on the wafer processed using the photomask or the LSI from the layout data of the LSI using the CAD device is used. When selecting a measurement point, a step of obtaining a condition for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern and a DRC command description for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern from layout data of an LSI based on the condition for selecting a dimension measurement point are created. The step of performing the DRC with the design rule check command description and the LSI pattern as input, and the LSI output by the execution of the DRC.
The method further comprises a step of limiting the number of pieces, the number of dimension measurement points of which is a necessary number and the number of dimension measurement points which are required is extracted.

According to the dimension measurement point selecting method according to the first embodiment, the LSI layout pattern or the LS is selected.
Select a dimension measurement location by extracting a portion that matches the pattern width, spacing, and other conditions from the mask pattern that is the result of performing OPC or the like on the I layout pattern by using the DRC function. In addition, it is possible to automatically and appropriately select a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern at high speed.

<Second Embodiment> The second embodiment corresponds to a specific example of the number limiting function in the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 shows the functions, files and the like used in the method for selecting the dimension measurement location of the LSI pattern on the photomask (or processed wafer) according to the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 6 to 8 are flow charts showing the process for determining the in-region dimension measurement location in the dimension measurement location selection method of FIG. FIGS. 9A to 9E are diagrams for explaining the entire content of the dimension measurement point selection process of FIGS. 6 to 8.

In order to perform the dimension measurement location selection processing, as shown in FIG. 6, in addition to the data to be processed, the number of dimension measurement points to be selected NUM, and the area coordinate A indicating the photomask drawing area.
0, an initial value D for the direction of area division is required. Here, NUM and A0 are values given from the outside.

In this example, NUM is assumed to be 5 given in parentheses at the stage of division 0 shown in FIG.
Is given the lower left coordinate value (X0, Y0) and the upper right coordinate value (X1, Y1) of the area A0 at the stage of division 0 shown in FIG. 9 (a). For D, either "X" or "Y" can be arbitrarily set as the initial value, but in this embodiment, "X"
And

By performing the in-region dimension measurement point determination processing using these pieces of information, the dimension measurement points can be selected so as to be uniform within the photomask surface.

FIG. 7 and FIG. 8 are flowcharts showing the process for determining the in-area dimension measurement location in FIG.

As shown in FIG. 7, when the processing is started,
First, it is inspected whether the number of dimension measurement points NUM in the area is 1.
If NUM is 1, an arbitrary one is selected from the dimension measurement candidates in the area as a dimension measurement point, and the process is terminated.

If NUM is not 1, it is inspected whether NUM is equal to or larger than the number of dimension measurement location candidates in the area. When this condition is satisfied, all the dimension measurement candidates in the area are selected as the dimension measurement points, and the process is ended. If this condition is not satisfied, the following processing is required.

First, the given area is divided into two in the D direction to obtain A1 and A2. In this case, since the initial value of D is set to "X", the area A0 is set as in the step of division 1 shown in FIG. 9B.
It is divided into two areas, A1-1 and A1-2.

Next, the number of dimension measurement points of 5 assigned to the area A0 is assigned to each of the divided areas as NUMl and NUM2. Basically, both are set to 1/2 of NUM, but the area
If the number of candidate size measurement points for A1-1 is smaller than NUM1, NUMl
Is the number of candidate size measurement points in area A1-1, and NUM2 is NUM-NUMl.
Set to.

Contrary to the above, when the number of dimension measurement location candidates in the area A1-2 is smaller than NUM2, NUM2 is set as the number of dimension measurement location candidates in A1-2, and NUM1 is set to NUM-NUM2.

If neither of the above conditions applies,
Set both NUMl and NUM2 to 1/2 of NUM. If NUM is an odd number, allocate it so that the number of dimension measurement points is large for the area with the largest number of dimension measurement location candidates. At the stage of division 1 shown in FIG. 9B, NUM1 is set to 3 and NUM2 is set to 2.

Next, as shown in FIG. 8, the division direction D is
If the current value is "X", change it to "Y", if it is "Y", change it to "X", calculate the coordinates of areas A1 and A2, and then change to area A1 and A2 and the number of dimension measurement points assigned to that area. On the other hand, the processing is ended by recursively executing the in-area dimension measurement location determination processing. Regions at the stages of divisions 2, 3, and 4 in this case are shown in FIGS. 9C, 9D, and 9E.

That is, in the dimension measuring point method according to the second embodiment, the pattern of the LSI chip area on the photomask (or the wafer processed using the same) is calculated from the layout data of the LSI using the CAD device. A means for obtaining at least the number of dimension measurement points to be selected and a rectangular area coordinate value that defines the entire area of the photomask or the processed wafer when at least the dimension measurement location candidate is extracted and the dimension measurement location is selected from the candidates. Is obtained, the area is divided into two equal parts in the x direction based on the rectangular area coordinate values and the number of dimension measurement points assigned to the area, and the dimension measurement point candidates existing in each area are divided. The first step of allocating an appropriate number of dimension measurement points to each area according to the number, and the rectangular area coordinate values and the number of dimension measurement points assigned to the area Then, the area is divided into two equal parts so that the size in the y direction becomes equal, and a second step of allocating an appropriate number of dimension measurement points to each area according to the number of dimension measurement point candidates existing in each area is provided. When the number of dimensional measurement points is 1, the dimensional measurement point candidate in the area or the dimensional measurement point candidate closest to the center point of the area is selected as the dimensional measurement point. To do.

In other words, from the dimensional measurement location candidates extracted for each condition from the LSI layout figure according to the pattern width, spacing, and other conditions, only the number of measurement points designated in advance is uniformly applied to the entire area of the photomask. The feature is that they are selected so as to be dispersed.

According to the dimension measurement location selecting method of the second embodiment, a specific number of dimension measurement locations are distributed from a large number of dimension measurement location candidates so as to be uniformly dispersed in the photomask plane or the processed wafer plane. Can be selected.

<Third Embodiment> The third embodiment is applied when a large number of dimension measurement location candidates are extracted by the DRC function in the first embodiment.

FIGS. 10A to 10C show the third embodiment of the present invention.
9 shows a method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask (or a processed wafer) according to the embodiment of FIG.

The layout pattern a shown in FIG.
On the other hand, when the rectangle b shown in FIG. 10B is extracted as a dimension measurement location candidate by the DRC function,
As shown in (C), a pattern of a rectangle c is formed by extending the rectangle b on both sides, and these rectangles b and c are output as data of different layers. Accordingly, it is possible to provide the measurement information for determining the position (coordinate value) of the dimension measurement location, the measurement dimension, and the measurement direction.

Regarding the dimension measurement position of the pattern interval,
Similarly to the above, by outputting the rectangles b and c in FIG. 11, it is possible to provide the measurement information of the dimension measurement location of the pattern interval.

FIG. 12 shows graphic information output by the dimension measurement information generating method shown in FIGS. 10A to 10C and 11.

The measurement position e can be determined from the center point coordinates of the rectangle b in FIG. 12, and the measurement dimension and the measurement direction d can be determined from the sides that do not overlap the sides of the rectangle c among the four sides of the rectangle b. You can

FIGS. 13A and 13B show specific examples for creating the pattern c added in the dimension measurement information generating method shown in FIGS. 10A to 10C and 11.

In FIGS. 13A and 13B, f is an intermediate pattern for creating the additional pattern c, and g is a rectangle b.
It is a wide width for creating an intermediate pattern from.

When the measurement location b is extracted by the measurement location extraction DRC function for the layout pattern a in FIG. 13 (A), an intermediate pattern f is created by thickening b by a certain distance g, and the intermediate pattern f is created. By extracting the common part, the additional pattern c in FIG. 13B can be created.

That is, in the dimension measurement information generating method according to the third embodiment, a photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer or an LSI on a wafer processed using the photomask.
When creating dimension measurement information when selecting the dimension measurement points of a pattern using a computer-aided design device,
When rectangular figure data is extracted by the DRC function as a dimension measurement location candidate of pattern width and pattern interval, another rectangular figure data is created and these two rectangles are output to different layers. To do.

According to the third embodiment, from the measurement points extracted by the DRC function, the measurement information for determining the position (coordinate value) of the dimension measurement point, the measurement dimension, and the measurement direction is stored in the graphic data. It is possible to express and transmit only by output.

<Fourth Embodiment> The fourth embodiment is applied when the dimension measurement location candidate designated by the designer is extracted by the DRC function in the first embodiment.

FIG. 14 shows a method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask (or processed wafer) according to Example 1 of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

The dimension measurement location / dimension extraction pattern 1 is added to the unprocessed design data 2 by the designer's designation. This dimension measurement point / Dimension extraction pattern 1
Is larger than the post-processing data 4 that may change due to processing such as OPC in the measurement direction of the measurement dimension 3.

By calculating the central coordinates of the shared portion (AND portion) of the dimension measurement location / size extraction pattern 1 and the processed data 4, the coordinate information of the location where the dimension is measured can be obtained, and the same can be shared. If the length of the part is extracted, the dimensional value after the processing can be obtained. At this time, as shown in FIG. 15, it may be determined that the direction of the measurement dimension 3 is parallel to the side on the outside of the shared portion on the side where the processed data in FIG. 14 exists.

That is, in the dimension measurement information generating method according to the first embodiment of the fourth embodiment, a dimension of a photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer or an LSI pattern dimension measured on a wafer processed using the photomask is measured. When creating dimension measurement information when performing selection processing using a computer-aided design device, add a figure indicating the dimension measurement point to the layout data of the LSI, and use this figure to determine the measurement position and dimension value. It is characterized by obtaining the measurement direction.

According to Example 1 of the fourth embodiment,
Even for a photomask in which graphic processing that is difficult to predict is performed on design data, it is possible to easily extract the coordinates, method, direction, etc. of the pattern for measuring the dimensions.

Here, it is possible to further facilitate classification of the measurement information by further adding information indicating the purpose and use of the measurement to the layout data of the LSI.

FIG. 16 shows a method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask (or processed wafer) according to Example 2 of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Design data 2 before processing one pattern
If you need to make measurements in both x and y directions,
The dimension measurement location / size extraction pattern 1 is added to both directions of the design data 2, and the size is extracted in each direction.

According to Example 2 of the fourth embodiment,
Dimensional measurement information can be generated for both x and y directions.

<Fifth Embodiment> FIG. 17 shows a method for determining the dimension measurement order of an LSI pattern on a wafer according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 17, the measurement points 1 of, for example, four adjacent LSI chip areas CHIP1 to CHIP4,
For 2, 3, and 4, as shown by the arrows in the figure, C for the pattern of the measurement point at the same coordinates in each chip area
The pattern dimensions are measured by sorting in the order of HIP1 to 4 (or the reverse order).

At this time, when the operator who performs the dimension measurement work on the processed wafer performs the dimension measurement while visually comparing the drawing showing the measurement pattern with the pattern to be measured, the same pattern to be measured is obtained. Since it can be visually recognized continuously, it can be expected that the measurement efficiency is improved and the measurement error is reduced.

[0081]

As described above, according to the method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern of the present invention, a dimension measurement point can be selected from an actual pattern inside a chip area in a short time without any manual labor and without error. be able to. Further, it is possible to select the dimension measurement points from a large number of dimension measurement point candidates according to a predetermined number of measurement points so as to be uniform in the photomask plane or the processed wafer plane.

According to the LSI pattern dimension measurement information generation method of the present invention, the measurement information for determining the position (coordinate value), the measurement dimension, and the measurement direction of the dimension measurement location from the measurement location extracted by the DRC function. Can be expressed and transmitted only by outputting graphic data. Further, even with respect to a photomask in which graphic processing that is difficult to predict is performed on design data, it is possible to easily extract the coordinates, method, direction, etc. of a pattern for measuring dimensions.

According to the method for determining the dimension measurement order of the LSI pattern of the present invention, it becomes possible to continuously visually recognize the same pattern to be measured in a plurality of adjacent chip regions on the processed wafer. It can be expected that the measurement efficiency is improved and the measurement error is reduced.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram for explaining an overall process of a method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern of a photomask (or a processed wafer) according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of a dimension measurement point selection condition file describing the dimension measurement point selection conditions in FIG.

FIG. 3 is a diagram showing a specific example of a DRC command description creation function for selecting dimension measurement points in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining a process of selecting a dimension measurement location candidate from a layout pattern when the DRC function in FIG. 1 is executed.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing functions, files and the like used in a method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern on a photomask (or a processed wafer) according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart showing a process for determining a dimension measurement point in a region in FIG.

7 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 6 as a part of the in-area dimension measurement point determination processing in FIG.

8 is a flowchart continued from FIG. 7 as a part of the in-area dimension measurement point determination processing in FIG.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the entire content of the dimension measurement point selection process of FIGS. 6 to 8;

FIG. 10 provides measurement information for determining a position, a measurement dimension, and a measurement direction of a pattern width dimension measurement point in a method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask according to a third embodiment of the present invention. The figure shown in order to demonstrate the process to do.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart for explaining a process of providing measurement information for determining a dimension measurement point of a pattern interval in the method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask according to the third embodiment of the present invention. Fig.

FIG. 12 is a diagram for explaining graphic information output by the dimension measurement information generating method shown in FIGS. 10 and 11;

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a specific example for creating a pattern to be added in the dimension measurement information generating method shown in FIGS. 10 and 11.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining a method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask according to Example 1 of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a case where the length of the shared portion of the dimension measurement location / size extraction pattern 1 and the processed data 4 is extracted in the processing of FIG. 14 to obtain the processed dimension value. The figure shown in order to demonstrate a mode that the direction parallel to the side where data 4 exists is judged to be the direction of measurement dimension 3.

FIG. 16 is a diagram shown for explaining a method for generating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern on a photomask according to Example 2 of the fourth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining a method for determining a dimension measurement order of an LSI pattern on a processed wafer according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 18 is a view for explaining a conventional example of the order of measuring pattern dimensions on a processed wafer.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... Dimension measurement location selection condition file, 11 ... DRC command description creation function for dimension measurement location selection, 12 ... DRC command description file, 13 ... LSI layout pattern data file, 14 ... DRC function, 15 ... Dimension measurement location candidate file, 16 ... Number limit function, 17 ... Dimension measurement location file.

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Ikuo Tsuchiya             25-1 Honmachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa             Toshiba Microelectronics Co., Ltd. (72) Inventor Katsumi Kikuma             25-1 Honmachi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa             Toshiba Microelectronics Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2H095 BD03

Claims (9)

[Claims] 1. L using a computer aided design device
A step of obtaining conditions for selecting the dimension measurement location of the LSI pattern when selecting the dimension measurement location of the pattern of the LSI chip area on the wafer processed using the photomask or the layout data of the SI, and the dimension measurement location selection A step of creating a design rule check command description for selecting a dimension measurement point of the LSI pattern from the layout data of the LSI based on the condition; and a step of executing a design rule check by inputting the design rule check command description and the LSI pattern And a step of limiting the number of dimension measurement points of the LSI pattern output by the execution of the design rule check and extracting the required number of dimension measurement points. Person Law. 2. L using a computer aided design device
At least when selecting a dimension measurement location candidate of the pattern of the LSI chip area on the wafer processed by using the photomask from the SI layout data and selecting the dimension measurement location from it. Using the means for obtaining the dimension measurement points and the means for obtaining the rectangular area coordinate values that define the chip area of the photomask or the processed wafer, the rectangular area coordinate values after the division and the dimension measurement points assigned to the area are used. Based on that, the first step is to divide the area into two equal sizes in the x direction, and to allocate an appropriate number of dimension measurement points to each area according to the number of dimension measurement location candidates existing in each area; Based on the number of dimensional measurement points assigned to the area and that area, the area is divided into two equal parts in the y direction so that the size is the same in each area. A second step of allocating an appropriate number of dimension measurement points to each region according to the number of dimension measurement point candidates, and in the first step and the second step, when the number of dimension measurement points of a certain region is 1. , Select any dimension measurement location candidate in that area as the dimension measurement location,
When the number of dimension measurement points of a certain area is two or more, the second step or the first step is applied to the area and the number of dimension measurement points allocated to the area, and dimension measurement of an LSI pattern. Location selection method. 3. The LSI pattern according to claim 2, wherein the arbitrary dimension measurement location candidate is a dimension measurement location candidate existing closest to a center point of a region having a dimension measurement number of 1. How to select dimension measurement points. 4. In the first step and the second step, if the number of dimension measurement location candidates existing within the rectangular area coordinate values is equal to or less than the number of dimension measurement points assigned to the area, the rectangle 4. The method for selecting a dimension measurement location of an LSI pattern according to claim 2, wherein all the dimension measurement location candidates existing in the area are selected as the dimension measurement location. 5. The method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern according to claim 2, is applied to a part of steps of the method for selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern according to claim 1. A method of selecting a dimension measurement point of an LSI pattern, which is characterized by the following. 6. L using a computer aided design device
When creating dimension measurement information for selecting the dimension measurement location of the pattern of the LSI chip area on the wafer processed by using the photomask or the layout data of SI, the dimension measurement location is added to the LSI layout data. A method for creating dimension measurement information of an LSI pattern, characterized in that the figure position data is added and the figure position is used to obtain the measurement position, dimension value, and measurement direction. 7. The LSI according to claim 6, wherein information indicating the purpose and use of measurement is further added to the layout data of the LSI to facilitate classification of the measurement information.
Pattern size measurement information creation method. 8. The LSI pattern dimension measurement information creating method according to claim 6 or 7 is applied to a part of the steps of the LSI pattern dimension measuring location selecting method according to claim 1. How to create pattern dimension measurement information. 9. A photomask used for manufacturing a semiconductor wafer or an LS on a wafer processed by using the photomask.
When measuring the dimension of the I pattern, it is possible to determine the measurement order by sorting each chip area in a fixed order with respect to the pattern of the same coordinates in the adjacent LSI chip areas on the photomask or the wafer. A method for determining the dimension measurement order of a characteristic LSI pattern.