JPH05267137A - Apparatus and method for data processing - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To prevent a drop in processing speed to create highly accurate data by obtaining an angle of a sloped line to serve as a reference line with respect to the X-axis and optimizing the direction for slice cutting based on whether the angle is larger or smaller than 45 deg.. CONSTITUTION:The title apparatus roughly comprises a data extracting means 1, an angle determining means 2 and a step approximation processing means 3. The data extracting means 1 extracts pattern data of a sloped line from a plurality of pattern data in design data. The angle determining means 2 determines whether or not a reference line has an angle larger than 45 deg. with respect to the X-axis using the extracted sloped line as the reference line. The step approximation processing means 3 performs slice cutting of the reference line at each constant width, wherein slice cutting is done horizontally to the X-axis when the reference line is determined by the angle determining means 2 to be 45 deg. or larger with respect to the X-axis while slice cutting is done horizontally to the Y-axis of the angle is smaller than 45 deg. with respect to the X-axis, thereby performing step approximation processing.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus and a method thereof, and more particularly, to data processing for generating highly accurate exposure pattern data suitable for use in the field of pattern exposure by a charged particle beam, for example. The present invention relates to a device and a method thereof. In recent years, for example, LSI (Large Scale Integrat)
A large number of exposure apparatuses have been developed for exposing a wafer of a semiconductor integrated circuit having a high integration density such as an ed circuit) and a large scale through a transmission mask to a predetermined pattern data with an electron beam or the like.

In such an LSI, as the degree of integration increases, the device pattern size decreases, and at the same time, the pattern accuracy is required to be very high. Therefore, the reticle pattern is also required to have high accuracy. As a result, there is a need for a data processing apparatus and a method thereof that can obtain high accuracy in creating pattern data.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art As a conventional data processing apparatus of this type, for example, there is an apparatus incorporated in an electron beam drawing apparatus for directly exposing a wafer as a sample with an electron beam. The electron beam drawing apparatus can draw an extremely fine pattern corresponding to the beam diameter, and can electrically correct the distortion and aberration inside the deflection field, which has the advantage that the accuracy can be increased depending on the control technology. , Is widely used as an LSI development tool and a mask manufacturing tool, and is particularly used for manufacturing a large-scale semiconductor integrated circuit having a high integration density.

However, such an electron beam drawing apparatus draws a pattern on a wafer by a so-called one-stroke writing method using a field emission type or a Gaussian beam using a thermoelectron gun. There is a problem that it is difficult to draw line segments of arbitrary angles other than multiples (hereinafter referred to as diagonal lines) smoothly and accurately. Therefore, in the drawing portion of the diagonal line, as shown in FIG.
A pattern having diagonal lines was slice-cut into small rectangles and decomposed to perform staircase approximation, and drawing was performed so as to approach the original diagonal line.

[0005]

However, in such a conventional data processing apparatus, when performing a staircase approximation by slicing a pattern having diagonal lines into fine rectangles and disassembling it, the diagonal lines are At regular intervals,
For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the configuration is such that slice cutting is performed in the horizontal direction with respect to the X axis.
As shown in (a), the diagonal line is 45 ° with respect to the X axis.
If the diagonal line is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the X-axis, as shown in FIG. 5B, the error due to the step approximation of the diagonal line becomes large and the pattern There was a problem that the accuracy deteriorated.

Therefore, as a measure for increasing the accuracy of the pattern, it is conceivable to reduce the width of slice cutting, but in this case, the new problem that the processing speed decreases because the number of decomposed rectangles increases. Points will be created. [Purpose] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a data processing device and a method thereof for generating highly accurate pattern data while preventing a decrease in processing speed.

[0007]

In order to achieve the above object, a data processing apparatus and method according to the present invention include a pattern having a line segment of an arbitrary angle which is not parallel to the X axis or the Y axis from a plurality of pattern data on the XY plane. Data extracting means for extracting data and determining whether or not the reference line is larger than 45 ° with respect to the X axis by using a line segment having an arbitrary angle in the pattern data extracted by the data extracting means as a reference line Angle determining means, and when the angle determining means determines that the reference line is larger than 45 ° with respect to the X axis, the reference line is sliced in a horizontal direction with respect to the X axis at constant widths. On the other hand, when the angle determining means determines that the reference line is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the X-axis, the reference line is slice-cut in the horizontal direction with respect to the Y-axis at regular intervals. And perform staircase approximation processing. When there are a plurality of line segments of arbitrary angles in the pattern data extracted by the data extraction unit, the longest line segment is used as the reference line. I am configuring.

[0008]

According to the present invention, the angle determining means determines the angle of the oblique line serving as the reference line with respect to the X-axis, and the slice cutting direction is optimal based on whether this angle is larger or smaller than 45 °. Be converted. That is, since highly accurate staircase approximation is performed without reducing the width of the slice cut, highly accurate pattern data can be created while suppressing a decrease in processing speed.

[0009]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2 are diagrams showing an embodiment of a data processing apparatus and a method thereof according to the present invention, and FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the present embodiment. First, the configuration will be described.

The data processing apparatus of this embodiment is roughly classified into
The data extraction means 1, the angle determination means 2, and the staircase approximation processing means 3 are included. The data extracting means 1 extracts pattern data having a diagonal line which is not parallel to the X axis or the Y axis from a plurality of pattern data on the XY plane included in the design data.

The angle determining means 2 uses the oblique line in the pattern data extracted by the data extracting means 1 as a reference line and determines whether the reference line is larger than 45 ° with respect to the X axis. Is. Staircase approximation processing means 3
Performs a process of slice-cutting the reference line at regular intervals, and when the angle determining means 2 determines that the reference line is larger than 45 ° with respect to the X axis, it with respect to the X axis. In the horizontal direction, on the other hand, when it is determined that the angle is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the X axis, the step approximation processing is performed by performing slice cutting in the horizontal direction with respect to the Y axis.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example of this embodiment. First, for example, C
Step approximation processing is performed on design data designed by AD (Computer Aided Design) or the like. this is,
First, the data extracting unit 1 extracts pattern data (hereinafter referred to as an oblique pattern) having oblique lines that are not parallel to the X axis or the Y axis from a plurality of pattern data on the XY plane included in the design data (step 1). ), If the diagonal pattern has multiple diagonal lines, the lengths of the multiple diagonal lines are each compared,
The longest diagonal line of the plurality of diagonal lines is set as the reference line (step 2).

Next, the angle determining means 2 determines whether the reference line is larger than 45 ° with respect to the X axis (step 3). And the reference line is 45 with respect to the X axis.
If it is determined that the reference line is larger than 0 °, the staircase approximation processing means slice-cuts the reference line in the horizontal direction with respect to the X axis at regular intervals (step 4), while the reference line is X-cut.
When it is determined that the angle is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the axis, the reference line is sliced in the horizontal direction with respect to the Y axis at constant widths, and the step approximation processing is performed (step 5).

Hereinafter, with respect to the obtained pattern data,
For example, shift processing, logic processing, etc. are performed to obtain exposure data. FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of this embodiment corresponding to the conventional example shown in FIG. That is, in the present embodiment, even when the diagonal line in the diagonal pattern is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the X axis, FIG.
As shown in (b), the error due to the step approximation of the oblique line is suppressed, and a highly accurate pattern can be obtained even with the conventional slice width.

As described above, in this embodiment, since it is not necessary to reduce the slice width in order to improve the accuracy, it is possible to prevent the processing time from decreasing, and the shape of the oblique pattern approximated to the stairs is more original. The pattern is brought closer to the pattern, and the accuracy of the diagonal pattern is improved. Therefore, the accuracy of the oblique pattern can be increased, which in turn can contribute to the improvement of reticle yield.

Although the above embodiment describes the case where the processing is performed with the X axis as a reference, it goes without saying that the same effect can be obtained even when the processing is performed with the Y axis as a reference.

[0017]

According to the present invention, the angle determining means obtains the angle of the oblique line serving as the reference line with respect to the X-axis, and the slice cutting direction is determined based on whether this angle is larger or smaller than 45 °. Since it is possible to optimize, the step approximation can be performed with high accuracy without reducing the width of the slice cut.

Therefore, it is possible to create highly accurate pattern data while preventing a decrease in processing speed.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a main configuration of the present embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an operation example of the present embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a diagram for explaining an operation example of the present embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a diagram for explaining staircase approximation.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining a problem of a conventional example.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 data extraction means 2 angle determination means 3 staircase approximation processing means

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. X from a plurality of pattern data on an XY plane
Data extracting means for extracting pattern data having a line segment of an arbitrary angle which is not parallel to the axis or the Y-axis, and the reference line is a line of arbitrary angle in the pattern data extracted by the data extracting means. Angle determining means for determining whether the angle is greater than 45 ° with respect to the axis, and if the angle determining means determines that the reference line is greater than 45 ° with respect to the X axis, the reference The line is slice-cut in the horizontal direction with respect to the X-axis at regular intervals, and when the angle determining means determines that the reference line is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the X-axis, the reference line A stepwise approximation processing means for performing a stepwise approximation processing by slice-cutting in a horizontal direction with respect to the Y axis at a constant width, and a plurality of line segments of arbitrary angles in the pattern data extracted by the data extraction means If present, the plurality of A data processing device characterized in that the longest line segment is used as a reference line. 2. X from a plurality of pattern data on the XY plane
Pattern data having a line segment of an arbitrary angle that is not parallel to the axis or the Y axis is extracted, and the longest line segment of the extracted pattern data is used as a reference line, and the reference line is the X axis. 45 ° to
If it is determined that the reference line is larger than 45 ° with respect to the X-axis, the reference line is horizontally aligned with respect to the X-axis at regular intervals. When the angle determining means determines that the reference line is smaller than 45 ° with respect to the X-axis, the reference line is set in a horizontal direction with respect to the Y-axis at regular intervals. A data processing method, characterized in that slice-cutting is performed to perform staircase approximation processing.