JPH0529188A - Recorder for lsi mask data - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To provide a recorder for LSI mask data, which can efficiently compress data and refer to mask data remaining in a compressed state in the recorder in which data for mask to be used at the time of manufacturing an LSI are compressed and recorded. CONSTITUTION:In a recorder 1 for LSI mask data to be filed by compressing circuit element data of a transistor, etc., represented by a geometrical figure, the recorder 1 is divided into a group dictionary and a basic dictionary, and constituted in such a manner that the former registers data 2 for the groups as a data set entity and the latter registers a pointer for designating the group registered in the group dictionary and a group disposing position 3 in an LSI chip.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a recording apparatus for compressing and recording data on a mask used in manufacturing an LSI.

It is necessary to prepare many kinds of masks at the time of manufacturing an LSI, and mask data based on data designed by a designer is stored as a file and taken out each time to be used.
Don't use large files as files,
Although data compression is being carried out, it was desired to develop a technique that allows effective data compression.

[0003]

2. Description of the Related Art A mask is an important jig used in a wafer exposure process in manufacturing an LSI, and it is necessary to prepare various masks suitable for an exposure apparatus. A designer designs an LSI circuit using a workstation or the like, and a circuit diagram of the obtained LSI is drawn as a drawing at a magnification of about 10,000 times and input to an electronic computer of a mask designing apparatus. After the design data accumulated in the electronic computer is verified and confirmed, it is converted by the CAD system into a format that can be driven by the mask drawing device.
It is stored in the file as "mask data". At that time, since a large amount of memory capacity is required to store all the data, the data is compressed and then stored in a file. FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure before data compression. Group A is A in FIG.
1, A2 position, croup B at B1, B2 position,
It looks like ~.

Two types of data compression means at this time are known. One is a bit compression method and the other is a compression method using a tree structure. The former is
For example, if the 32-bit data A as shown in FIG.
The original data having three sets of 32-bit B data is compressed as shown in FIG. 5B. Figure 5B
Indicates the A and B data using 30 bits, and the remaining 2 bits indicate the number of sets of each data. That is, it can be seen that there are two sets of data A "10" and three sets of data B "11".

The latter is to compress the tree-structured data shown in FIG. In FIG. 6, the data of the tree structure is the case where data A has data B and C, data B has three sets of data D, and one data D has another data. is there. Such a data structure appears in the LSI chip shown in FIG. 7, for example. FIG. 7 shows the case where the LSI chip is regarded as the data of the group A, and the data of the groups B and C are present in the group A, and the group B has three sets of the group D.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining compression of the tree-structured data as described above. As shown in FIG. 8, data indicating that data of groups A, B, and C exist at the first position, and data indicating the position of D data by combining three sets of B and D data at the second position. In addition, the data and the fact that the C data exists at the third position are stored. Further, after the fourth position, the substance of A data, the substance of B data, the substance of C data, and the substance of D data are stored respectively. Here, the D data is at a coordinate position based on B. Therefore, compared with the case where three sets of D data entities are recorded together with other data while it is normally recorded, it is recorded that there are three sets of D data and only one set of entity data is stored. Therefore, the data will be compressed.

When converting a file storing the above-described compressed data into a format that can be driven by the mask drawing device, the data is expanded (processing reverse to compression) by an electronic computer. ..

[0008]

With respect to the data recording means according to the prior art, all the bits including the number of data sets are data unless the data is sufficiently processed by the bit compression method and processed. May be mistaken for.

When the tree structure is used, when expanding the data, it is necessary to expand the tree structure while sequentially tracing the tree structure toward the root. For example, regarding the D data, the data based on A is converted, and the relation between the D data and other data will be examined. And once after the expansion process,
When storing again, it is necessary to repeat compression again. Therefore, for the D data, the reference coordinates of B are converted again.

Therefore, in any case, as the LSI is highly integrated, the amount of mask data also increases, and it becomes necessary to use a large amount of computer resources for a long time during data processing. That is, in the prior art, when mask data is compressed and recorded, the data conversion process becomes enormous because the next process is performed.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an LSI mask data recording apparatus that is capable of improving the above-mentioned drawbacks, performing efficient data compression, and referring to mask data in a compressed state. is there.

[0012]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing the principle configuration of the present invention. In FIG. Shows a storage device for LSI mask data as a whole, 2 shows a group dictionary unit, and 3 shows a basic dictionary unit.

The present invention has the following configuration in the LSI mask data recording apparatus 1 for compressing and filing circuit element data such as transistors represented by geometric figures. That is, the recording device 1 is divided into a group dictionary unit 2 and a basic dictionary unit 3, in which the former 2 is group-specific data as an aggregate entity of data, and the latter 3 is a group registered in the group dictionary. And a LS
The group arrangement position in the I chip is registered and configured.

[0014]

Since the LSI mask data is enormous as shown in FIG. 4, when divided and stored in the two dictionary units 2 and 3, the data of each group is stored in each group dictionary unit. Each is materialized and stored as a single data. That is, as the entire data structure, the same data in each group repeatedly existed, but only in a single circuit. Since only the so-called basic data is registered in the basic dictionary portion, a small capacity is required when viewing the whole as LSI mask data. When processing the mask data, the desired data is read from both dictionary units and then processed. At that time, since the data from the group dictionary is not compressed, the data processing is simplified and the computer resource for performing the data processing can be saved.

[0015]

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a relationship between an example of data storage in the basic dictionary section of FIG. 1 and an address of a corresponding group dictionary as an embodiment of the present invention. In FIG. 2, a pointer indicating the address of the usage group A (for example, 1 word)
And that the arrangement positions A1 and A2 (for example, A1 is 2 words of XY coordinates) are stored. The support position of the address pointer is the initial position of the entity data of the tip group A of the arrow. The amount of substance data of group A is hundreds to thousands of words including data indicating the amount of data. Similarly, a pointer indicating the address of the usage group B is sequentially stored in the basic dictionary section.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart showing an example of data conversion in a CAD system as an application example of the present invention.
In the step of FIG. 3, the pointer to the used group address is read. In the step, the memory of the recording device indicated by the pointer is read out, for example, the substance data of the group A is taken out, and the CAD system side makes a data copy. Next, in step, the arrangement position of group A in the basic dictionary section is read. Perform the necessary conversion for the data to be placed on the chip in the step,
The placement position is determined and used as data. In step, necessary processing is performed on the data passed to the LSI manufacturer. The compressed data can be used almost as it is, and there is no need to perform the conventional data expansion processing.

[0017]

As described above, according to the present invention, when the LSI mask data is stored in the recording device, the bit compression
Compared with the case of using a tree structure, the processing time for compressed data becomes faster (because the processing is performed on the storage position rather than processing the data itself). It also has the effect of increasing the compression ratio. This is because when the data of the same group is extremely often used like LSI mask data, only the data indicating the arrangement position is stored. Furthermore, since a large amount of computer resources are not used for the processing when the LSI mask data is applied to the mask drawing device, the processing can be simply performed in a short time.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a principle configuration of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a configuration of an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is an operation flowchart of data conversion.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an example of a data structure before data compression.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a data bit compression method.

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram of data having a tree structure.

FIG. 7 is a diagram showing an example of data of an LSI chip.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing compression of tree structure data.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 LSI mask data recording device 2 Group dictionary unit 3 Basic dictionary unit

Claims (1)

Claim: What is claimed is: 1. An LSI mask data recording device (1) for compressing and filing circuit element data of a transistor or the like represented by a geometric figure, wherein the recording device (1) is a group dictionary unit. (2) and the basic dictionary section
(3), the former (2) contains data for each group as a collection entity of data, and the latter (3) contains pointers pointing to the groups registered in the group dictionary, and within the LSI chip. A device for recording LSI mask data, characterized in that the group placement positions of the respective are registered.