JPH07311787A - Method and device for generating data for graphic processing of integrated circuit masking pattern - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To obtain data having general applicability capable of reducing the data to be handled by using rectangular data and trapezoidal data which are zone information monopolized by an obtained cell. CONSTITUTION:The hierarchical structure of cells is extracted from layout data for integrated circuit design, cell structure data are generated and recorded and cell extension judgement is performed (F). For hierarchized cells which are not turned into extension cells, the data inside all the cells judged as the extension cells among the cells cited by the cell and layout graphics inside the cell are divided into trapezoids and converted as the data inside the present cell. When the cited cell is the hierarchized cell which is not the extension cell, the instance zone of the cell is converted as the rectangular data (G). Then, overlapping data information which is the overlapping of the data and the cell and the overlapping of the cited cells each other is obtained (H), an area monopolized by the cell which does not interfere the other cells and graphics is obtained and the zone information is added to a trapezoidal data file as the rectangular data (I).

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a mask pattern graphic calculation method and calculation device, and more particularly to a calculation method and calculation device used for layout verification of an integrated circuit and data conversion of data used in an electron beam exposure apparatus. is there.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, mask pattern data of an integrated circuit is composed of a set of data structures called cells which are composed of unique pattern data and cell reference data including cited cell information. I had. (Hereinafter, data having such a structure is referred to as cell structure data.) The highest cell in this hierarchy is called a root cell and corresponds to an LSI chip. Then, replacing the cell reference data with the pattern data is called expansion, but conventionally, after the pattern data of all cells was expanded to the root cell without using a hierarchical structure, layout verification and conversion of electron beam exposure data were performed. . In recent years, the scale of LSIs has been increasing year by year, and the number of figures forming a mask pattern has exceeded hundreds of millions.
The layout data of the SI has regularity, and the LSI design data is not so large. This is because the layout design is performed by repeatedly arranging the same cells. However, in order to perform graphic processing of these large-scale LSI data, it is necessary to expand all the graphics in the root cell as well, which not only prolongs the processing time but also causes an enormous amount of data. There was a problem that it could not fit in the storage device of the computer.

[0003]

As described above, with the graphic processing of large-scale LSI data, the graphic processing can be performed without expanding the data in all cells to the root cell, and the graphic transformation can be performed. Along with this, there has been a strong demand for a method that can obtain a correct calculation result without any attendance, and a calculation method that meets this demand has also been proposed, such as a processing example described later. However, a method of preparing general-purpose data necessary for that purpose and a method of preparing general-purpose data that can reduce the data amount in arithmetic processing as much as possible have not been proposed yet. Under the circumstances, the present invention can perform graphic processing without expanding all the data in all cells to the root cell, and the data for processing that can perform arithmetic processing without deformation of the graphic. Is to provide. Furthermore, in the above processing,
It aims to provide general-purpose data that minimizes the amount of data handled.

[0004]

A method of generating graphic processing data of an integrated circuit mask pattern according to the present invention is a method of generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, and at least: (A) A step of extracting a cell hierarchical structure from the integrated circuit design layout data, generating and recording cell structure data composed of cell unique pattern data and cell reference data, and (B) a pattern of the extracted cell structure data. Based on the information, the process of dividing all the in-cell pattern data into trapezoids and converting them as in-cell data to create trapezoidal data, (C) From the obtained trapezoidal data and the quoted cell information of the extracted cell structure data ,
(D) a step of obtaining overlapping data information, which is the overlapping of the cell and the pattern data and the overlapping of the cited cells.
Based on the overlapping data information obtained in (C), a hard zone, which is an exclusive area of each cell that does not interfere with other cells and figures, is obtained for each cell, and the zone information of this cell exclusive Is recorded as rectangular data together with the trapezoidal data obtained in the trapezoidal data creating step, and is recorded as graphic processing data. or,
A method of generating graphic processing data of an integrated circuit mask pattern according to the present invention is a method of generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, and at least (E) integrated circuit design layout data. Extracting the hierarchical structure of cells from the cell, generating and recording cell structure data composed of cell unique pattern data and cell reference data, and (F) based on the obtained cell structure data, from the root cell to the bottom cell. , Determining the overlap between cells, and from the determination of the overlap, the cells that can be hierarchically processed in cell units are hierarchical cells, and the cells that cannot be hierarchically processed in cell units are expansion cells, A step of determining whether or not a layering process can be performed on a cell-by-cell basis for each cell,
(G) From the root cell to the bottom cell, as for the hierarchized cell that has not become the expanded cell as a result of the hierarchization processing determination, the expanded cell in the in-cell layout figure and the cell quoted by the cell All the in-cell data that have been judged are divided into trapezoids and converted as the in-cell data, and if the referenced cell is a hierarchical cell that is not an expanded cell, the instance zone of that cell is converted to rectangular data. The trapezoidal generation step of converting, and (H) from the root cell to the bottom cell, the trapezoidal data obtained in (G) is input in cell units, and the data and the quoted cell information of the cell structure data are used to obtain the data. The process of obtaining the overlapping data information, which is the overlapping of the cell and the quoted cell,
(I) Based on the overlapping data information obtained in (F), a hard zone, which is an exclusive region of each cell that does not interfere with other cells and figures, is obtained for each cell,
This cell-exclusive zone information is recorded as rectangular data together with the trapezoidal data obtained in the trapezoidal data creating step as graphic processing data. Then, in the above-described step of determining whether or not the layering process can be performed on a cell-by-cell basis for each cell, in order from (a) cell structure data that manages cell information, an expansion mark is attached from the root cell toward the bottom cell. Register the cell zone rectangle when the cells without expansion marks are placed in the extracted cells in the first step of extracting the cells that are not extracted and in the cells cited by the cells extracted in (b) and (a). The second step, (c) the third step of determining the overlap between the registered cell zone rectangle data, and (d) when one cell includes the other cell, the including side cell is If the expansion mark is put and one cell does not include the other cell, it is judged whether the non-overlapping area of the cell is more than a predetermined amount, and if it is less than the predetermined amount, the expansion mark is put to the registered cell. Fourth It has a step, and in (d),
One or more cells marked as expanded cells, and
It is judged whether or not a predetermined number of the same extracted cells are processed, and if the number is equal to or less than the predetermined number, (b) to (d) are repeated, and (a) to (d) until all cells are similarly extracted. )
It is characterized by repeating.

An apparatus for generating graphic processing data of an integrated circuit mask pattern according to the present invention is an apparatus for generating graphic processing data utilizing a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, and at least (1) integrated circuit design Means for extracting a hierarchical structure of cells from the layout data for use, (2)
Recording means for recording cell structure data composed of cell specific pattern data and cell reference data extracted by the extracting means, and (3) trapezoidal pattern data in all cells based on the pattern information of the extracted cell structure data. A cell and a pattern are obtained from the trapezoidal data creating means that divides and converts as in-cell data to create trapezoidal data, and (4) the trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal data creating means and the quoted cell information of the extracted cell structure data. Overlapping information extracting means for obtaining overlapping data information, which is the overlapping of data and overlapping of cited cells, and (5) based on the overlapping data information obtained by the overlapping information extracting means, with other cells of each cell. A cell-proprietary zone creating means for creating a cell-proprietary zone for each cell by obtaining a cell-proprietary proprietary area that does not interfere with the figure, 6) Having a recording unit for recording the trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal data creating unit and the rectangular data of the cell-exclusive zone information obtained by the cell-exclusive zone creating unit as a trapezoidal data file. It is a feature. An integrated circuit mask pattern graphic processing data generating device of the present invention is a device for generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern,
(1) Extracting means for extracting the cell hierarchical structure from the integrated circuit design layout data, and (2) Recording means for recording the cell structure data composed of the cell unique pattern data and the cell reference data extracted by the extracting means. (3) On the basis of the obtained cell structure data, from the root cell to the bottom cell, it is determined whether or not cells overlap with each other. From the determination of the overlap, hierarchization is performed for cells that can be hierarchized on a cell-by-cell basis. A determination unit that determines whether or not the layering process can be performed on a cell-by-cell basis for each cell in which cells are cells and cells that cannot be layered on a cell-by-cell basis are expansion cells. Based on the result, for the hierarchical cells that did not become expanded cells, all the cells for which expanded cell determination has been made in the layout figure in the cell and the cells cited by that cell Trapezoidal division of the internal data, converting it as internal cell data, and if the cell being quoted is a hierarchical cell that is not an expanded cell, converts the instance zone of that cell as rectangular data, and trapezoid generation means ( 5)
By inputting the trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal generation means, from the root cell to the bottom cell, cell by cell, from the cited cell information of the data and the cell structure data, the overlapping of the data and the cell and the overlapping of the cited cells are shown. Overlapping data information extracting means for obtaining overlapping data information, and (6) based on the overlapping data information obtained by the overlapping data information extracting means, a proprietary area of each cell that does not interfere with other cells and figures and is occupied by the cell Cell-exclusive zone creating means for creating a cell-exclusive zone of each cell, (7) trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal data creating means, and cell-exclusive zone obtained by the cell-exclusive zone creating means The rectangular data, which is the information, is recorded as a trapezoidal data file. In the above description, the cell instance zone means an imposition zone represented by rectangular data.

The data (data base of trapezoidal data) created by the method for generating data for graphic processing of an integrated circuit mask pattern according to the present invention includes geometric operations for enlarging and reducing a graphic, and between different mask patterns. This data can also be used for logical operations, phase operations, etc. Using the rectangular data and the trapezoidal pattern data representing the hard zone of each cell obtained here, an example of the processing for performing the geometric operation of enlarging or reducing the mask pattern for the integrated circuit represented by the mask pattern data I will give you. This process is bottom-up, and the following processes (1) to (3) are sequentially performed on a cell-by-cell basis, whereby arithmetic processing of integrated circuit mask pattern data can be performed without the graphics being deformed before and after the processing. It is a thing. First, in bottom-up, in cell units, expand the data in the area between the zone frame and the original cell frame obtained by reducing the specified width from the hard zone frame to the upper cell,
Expanded data including the cell-specific pattern data by expanding rectangular data representing a cut zone consisting of a predetermined area in the upper cell to remove the overlap of pattern data with the cell from the upper cell area that cites the cell To create. Next, the created expanded data is read in the order of coordinates, and it is judged whether the data is normal pattern data or rectangular data representing a cut zone. If it is normal pattern data, it is passed to the geometric calculation processing step, and the rectangular shape representing the cut zone is read. If it is data, it is passed to the correction processing step that performs the processing described below. Then, geometric calculation processing is performed on the normal pattern data to create geometric calculation processing data, and this geometric calculation processing data is passed to the correction processing step. In the correction processing step, when there is a subordinate cell in the processing cell, the geometrical operation processing data and the rectangular data representing the cut zone of each cell are used to perform a logical difference operation, and the geometrical operation processing data is used to determine the cut zone area. The logical difference calculation processing data is created by removing the data located in the area. If there is no lower cell, the geometric calculation processing data is set as the logical difference calculation processing data. Then, with respect to this logical difference calculation processing data, when there is a higher-order cell, rectangular data representing an area corresponding to the cut zone of the higher-order cell of each cell is used,
A logical product operation is performed, and logical product operation processing data is created by removing data located outside this area. If there is no higher-order cell, the logical difference operation processing data is directly used as the logical product operation processing data. . Then, the obtained AND operation processing data is output. If the size amount is a value obtained by multiplying the enlargement width or the reduction width by 2 ^{1/2 in} the geometric calculation of enlargement or reduction, the zone frame obtained by reducing the predetermined width from the hard zone frame is originally used. The area between the cell frame and the cell frame is the area between the zone frame that is twice the size of the hard zone frame and the cell frame, and the cut zone frame that represents the outermost circumference of the cut zone is the hard zone frame. If the frame is internally reduced by the size amount, the amount of data to be processed can be minimized.

[0007]

According to the method for generating the graphic processing data of the integrated circuit mask pattern of the present invention, the pattern data of all cells can be converted into the root cell by performing the operation in units of cells which can be hierarchically processed. It is possible to provide general-purpose data that can obtain the same calculation result as in the case where the pattern data of all cells is expanded to the root cell without expanding the pattern data to. The method for generating the graphic processing data of the integrated circuit mask pattern of the present invention is based on the cell structure data of the mask pattern data, from the root cell toward the bottom cell, determining the overlap between cells and cells, and determining the overlap, For cells that can be hierarchically processed on a cell-by-cell basis, consider them as hierarchical cells, and use cells that cannot be hierarchically processed on a cell-by-cell basis as expanded cells. Although a process is provided, this process adjusts the amount of layering processing, the data handled in the arithmetic processing can be reduced as much as possible, and the subsequent graphic processing time can be shortened.
It is possible to reduce the amount of processing data corresponding to a large-scale integrated circuit mask pattern. After all, by performing processing using the rectangular data and the trapezoidal data representing the hard zone obtained by the method for generating the graphic processing data of the integrated circuit mask pattern of the present invention, the graphic calculation of the mask pattern data for the large scale integrated circuit. Can be done at a practical level.

[0008]

Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing the process steps of the first embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a flowchart of the cell determination (expanded cell determination) process, which is the main part of the first embodiment. FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a process of setting a cell exclusive zone, which is a main part of the first embodiment. First, a hierarchical structure of cells is extracted from the layout data for designing an integrated circuit, cell structure data (consisting of cell unique pattern data and cell reference data) is generated and recorded. (E)

Next, a cell expansion determination (expansion cell determination) is performed (F) in which a cell that cannot be hierarchized on a cell-by-cell basis is used as an expansion cell (F), which is based on the flowchart of FIG. Explained. First, cells having no cell expansion mark are extracted from the root cell toward the bottom cell from the cell structure data that manages cell information.
(A) Next, after registering a cell zone rectangle when a cell without a cell expansion mark is placed in the extracted cell among the cells quoted by the cell extracted in (a), (b),
The overlap between the registered cell zone rectangle data is determined. (C) Next, if one cell includes the other cell as a result of determining the overlap, an expansion mark is attached to the cell on the including side, and one cell does not include the other cell. In this case, it is determined whether or not there is a predetermined amount N% or more of the non-overlapping portion of the cells (cell exclusive area). If the predetermined amount N% or less, the expansion mark is added to the registered cell. (D) In (d) above, it is determined whether or not the number of cells marked as expanded cells is one or more and the same extracted cell is focused a predetermined number M times. The above (b) to (d) are repeated, and similarly, (a) to (d) are repeated until all cells are extracted. (E) In the above step of determining whether or not cells can be hierarchized,
When one figure contains the other, the process of putting the expansion mark on the containing cell, and when one cell does not contain the other, the non-overlapping parts of the cells (cell (Exclusive area) is greater than or equal to a predetermined amount, and if it is less than or equal to a predetermined amount, the process of adding the expansion mark to the registered cell is a process for increasing the number of cells for which hierarchical cells are determined. is there.

Given that the hierarchical structure of cells extracted in (A) above is the cell structure shown in FIG. 5, the cell determination (expanded cell determination) (F) in this case will be described more specifically. . FIG. 5 shows a cell hierarchical structure based on the citation information from the root to the bottom cell, which is extracted from the cell structure data shown in FIG. Here, FIG.
, Cell A references cell X and cell B
Refers to cells C and D, and cells C and D refer to cell Y. In this cell information, the order of cells from the root to the bottom is R, A, B,
X, C, D, Y.

First, focusing attention on the root cell R, FIG.
As shown in (a), cell A and cell B to be quoted are
These cell zone rectangle data are registered and the overlap is determined. In this case, this overlap is as shown in FIG. 6B. Since the cell A to be quoted includes the cell B, the cell A on the inclusion side is determined to be an expanded cell that is not a hierarchical cell. . Next, in the cell determination in cell R,
Since the expansion cell has occurred, the cell of interest is again designated as cell R,
Although cell determination is performed, when an expanded cell is found, the cell below which is not the expanded cell quoted is referred to. Therefore, the cells quoted by the cell R are the cell B and the cell X, and their arrangement is as shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 7, cell B
Since cell X does not have an overlapping portion, cell B and cell X become a co-hierarchical cell, and the cell determination processing in cell R ends.

The next cell of interest is A, but since cell A is a developed cell, cell determination is not performed here.

Next, paying attention to the cell B, the cell C and the cell D are cited, and the cell C and the cell D are overlapped as shown in FIG. Regarding the overlap between cell C and cell D,
For example, calculation is performed as shown in FIG. 9A to obtain the entering width MIN (Lw, Hw), and the entering width is MIN (L
In the case of w, Hw) = Lw, an area (cell exclusive area) of a portion where cells do not overlap is obtained as shown in FIG.
From this, the cell exclusive area of both the cell C and the cell D is equal to or less than the predetermined value (N%), so that it is determined as the expanded cell. Next, let cell C and cell D, which are determined as expanded cells, be transparent through cell C and cell D (FIG. 10A).
Then, as shown in FIG. 10B, since these cell zones do not overlap with each other, the cell Y is not the expansion cell. Here, the cell determination of the cell B ends.

Next, when attention is paid to the cell X, there is no cell quoted therebelow, so that the cell determination of the cell X ends.

Next, when attention is paid to the cell C, the cell determination is not performed because the cell C is the expanded cell.

The same applies to the subsequent cell D.

Finally, when the cell Y is the target cell, there is no cell to be quoted below it, so that the cell Y is not judged.

As described above, the cell expansion judgment is performed for all cells. The result is as shown in FIG.
The cells marked with ◯ are hierarchical cells that can be processed in the unit of cells, and the cells marked with × cannot be processed in the unit of cells, and the pattern data is trapezoidally converted into the cells above it and expanded. It becomes an expansion cell. FIG. 11B shows the arrangement.

In the step (F), based on the cell determination result obtained, the hierarchized cells that have not become expanded cells are expanded in the in-cell layout figure and the cells cited by the cells. All cell data for which cell judgment has been made is trapezoidally divided and converted as the data in its own cell, and if the referenced cell is a hierarchical cell that is not an expanded cell, an instance of that cell (imposition) Convert zones as rectangular data. (G)

Next, from the root cell to the bottom cell, the trapezoidal data obtained in (G) is input on a cell-by-cell basis, and based on the quoted cell information of the data and the cell structure data, the overlap between the data and the cell and the quoted cell. (H) The overlapped data information which is the overlap of the comrades is obtained, and based on the overlapped data information obtained in (H), the exclusive area of each cell, which does not interfere with other cells and figures, is obtained. , A cell-exclusive zone is created for each cell, and the cell-exclusive zone information obtained here is added to the trapezoidal data file as rectangular data. (I)

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of the expansion hard zone setting step which is the main part of the embodiment of the present invention. It is assumed that the layout pattern data handled in this processing has the cell structure shown in FIG. This process will be specifically described with reference to FIG. FIG. 12 shows the cell structure from the reference information from the root cell to the bottom cell.
It is extracted from the cell structure data shown in FIG.
First, the cell-entry width (vertical and horizontal) of all cells is set to 0. Here, the cell entering width is the overlapping width of each cell with other cells and the overlapping width with a figure. In FIG. 12, the root cell R1 refers to the cell A1 twice, the cell A1 refers to the cell B1 and the cell C1, and it means that the one cell A1 referred to is rotated by 90 °. Here, the cells without the cell expansion mark are extracted from the root cell toward the bottom cell. In this cell structure, the order of cells from the root to the bottom is R1, A
It becomes 1, B1, and C1.

First, the root cell R1 is set as a target cell.
The cell exclusive area (hard zone) of the root cell is an area including all cells to be cited. FIG. 13 shows a cell A1.
Represents the overlap of the figures a and b. One of the cells A1 is rotated 90 °. The overlap between the cell A1 and the figure a is calculated, but as shown in FIG.
Since w and its direction are obtained, the entry width of the figure a is updated as the entry width of the cell A1. In this case, FIG.
The entry width of the non-rotated cell A1 is updated in the horizontal direction to the entry width aw of the graphic a. Next, the overlap between the cell A1 rotated by 90 ° and the figure b is determined, and the method of determining the entering width is the same as that shown in FIG. Entry width bw of is calculated. However, since the cell A1 is rotated by 90 ° and arranged, the entry width bw of the cell A1 is the entry width in the vertical direction. As a result, as shown in FIG. 16, the cell exclusive area of the cell A1 is an area in which the widths aw and bw of the original cell A1 in the horizontal and vertical directions are reduced from both sides of the figure. When the cell A1 or the cell A1 obtained by rotating the cell A1 by 90 ° overlaps with a large number of figures, the indentation width is updated as shown in FIG.

Next, pay attention to the cell A1. An area obtained by reducing the cell width of the original width of the cell A1 which is obtained as the exclusive area of the cell A1 is used as the hard zone of the cell A1 and the rectangular data is also determined. The hard zone obtained here focuses attention on cells from the root to the bottom of the cell of interest, finds the figure and the cell, the entry of the cell and the cell in each cell quotation part, and updates the maximum value, No matter how complicated the cell structure is, the interference check with all the cells that refer to the cell A1 should be completed when the cell A1 is focused on.
The cell exclusive area reduced by the entry width of 1 is data unique to the cell and does not interfere with all other figures. Cell A1 refers to cell B1 and cell C1,
The cell B1 and the cell C1 overlap. (FIG. 17) An area in which both sides of the cell area are reduced by the width of the cell B1 and the cell C1 is as shown by the shaded area in FIG. The method of determining the intrusion width of the cells B1 and C1 may be considered by replacing the cell-to-figure overlap shown in FIG. 13 with the cell-to-cell overlap, and is calculated as shown in FIG. However, as shown in FIG. 17, cell C1 is
The overlapping width with the cell-occupying area (hard zone) is represented, and it is necessary to change the entering width of the cell C1. The hard zone of the cell A1 and the entering width of the cell C1 are obtained by, for example, the calculation method shown in FIG. 18, and the entering width in the lateral direction of the cell C1 is updated.

Next, the cell B1 is set as a target cell. Cell B1
The rectangular area having a reduced width is set as the cell exclusive area (hard zone) of the cell B1. Since there is no cell quoted by the cell B1, the processing of the cell B1 ends here.

Even when the cell C1 is the cell of interest, the cell B
As in the case of 1, the cell exclusive area (hard zone) is set.

In this way, by paying attention to the cell from the root cell toward the bottom cell, and finding the overlap between the quoted cell and the figure, the cell and the cell, and the hard zone of the quoted cell and the noted cell itself, Each cell exclusive area can be obtained, and even if a graphic operation is performed in cell units, the operation result in the exclusive area (hard zone) obtained here is guaranteed. FIG. 19 shows the processing result of the exclusive area (hard zone) setting.

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a generating device in the method of generating graphic processing data according to the first embodiment.
It is shown in.

Next, Example 2 will be described. A second embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows a second embodiment of the present invention.
It is a figure showing the process of the process of. First, as in the first embodiment, the cell hierarchical structure is extracted from the integrated circuit design layout data, and the cell structure data (consisting of the cell unique pattern data and the cell reference data) is generated and recorded.
(A) Next, based on the pattern information of the extracted cell structure data, all the in-cell pattern data are trapezoidally divided and converted as in-cell data to create trapezoidal data (B),
From the obtained trapezoidal data and the quoted cell information of the extracted cell structure data, the overlapped data information, which is the overlap between the cell and the pattern data and the overlap between the quoted cells, is obtained.
(C) Then, in the same manner as in the first embodiment, a cell exclusive area (hard zone) is set for each cell, and the cell exclusive zone information obtained here is added to the trapezoidal data file as rectangular data. Keep it. (D)

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a generating device in the method of generating graphic processing data according to the second embodiment.
It is shown in.

As described above, the cell-exclusive area (hard zone) and trapezoidal pattern data of each cell obtained in the first and second embodiments enables the arithmetic processing using the hierarchization processing on a cell-by-cell basis. In the first embodiment, a cell determination step is provided. This is to increase the number of data to be processed that can be hierarchically processed on a cell-by-cell basis as much as possible, and to perform the entire geometric calculation of a figure represented by mask pattern data. It tries to reduce the amount of data to be processed. Of course,
The second embodiment also has some effects.

[0031]

By using the rectangular data and the trapezoidal data which are the zone information exclusively for the cells obtained by the method for generating the graphic processing data of the integrated circuit mask pattern according to the present invention, the graphic calculation can be performed on the cell for general purpose. It can be done by unit processing. After all, it enables graphic operation processing of mask pattern data of a large-scale integrated circuit at a practical level, which enables miniaturization and high integration of photomasks in accordance with higher integration and miniaturization of semiconductor elements. It is supposed to be able to meet requests.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a process of Example 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a process of Example 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of an expanded cell determination process according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of an exclusive area (hard zone) setting process in the embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a cell structure of layout pattern data used for explaining a cell determination step according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining cell determination when a cell of interest is a cell R.

FIG. 7 is a diagram for explaining cell determination when the target cell is set to the cell R again.

FIG. 8 is a diagram for explaining cell determination when the cell of interest is cell B.

FIG. 9 is a diagram for explaining the entering width.

FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining cell determination when the cell of interest is cell B again.

FIG. 11: Cell expansion determination result diagram for all cells

FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a cell structure of layout pattern data used for explaining an exclusive area (hard zone) setting step in Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a degree of overlap between a figure and a cell zone.

FIG. 14 is a diagram for explaining the entering width.

FIG. 15 is a flowchart for calculating the entering width.

FIG. 16 is a diagram for explaining setting of a cell exclusive zone.

FIG. 17 is a diagram for explaining the entering width.

FIG. 18 is a diagram for explaining a calculation method of a penetration width.

FIG. 19: Exclusive area (hard zone) setting processing result diagram

FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a device function according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 21 is a schematic view of a device function according to the first embodiment of the present invention.

[Explanation of symbols]

 R, A, B, X, C, D, Y cells a, b figures R1, A2, B2, C2 cells aw, bw entry width W horizontal entry width h vertical entry width AS cell name BT figure name AH hard zone BS cell zone

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A method for generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, comprising: (A) extracting a hierarchical structure of cells from layout data for integrated circuit design, A step of generating and recording cell structure data composed of pattern data and cell reference data, and (B) trapezoidally dividing all the in-cell pattern data based on the pattern information of the extracted cell structure data to obtain the in-cell data. Step of converting and creating trapezoidal data, (C) From the obtained trapezoidal data and the quoted cell information of the extracted cell structure data, the overlapping data information, which is the overlap between the cell and the pattern data and the overlap between the quoted cells, is obtained. Based on the process of obtaining and the overlapping data information obtained in (D) and (C), the cell exclusive A step of obtaining a hard zone which is an exclusive area of each cell for each cell, and recording the zone information of this cell exclusive as rectangular data together with the trapezoidal data obtained in the trapezoidal data creating step as graphic processing data. , And a method of generating data for graphic processing of an integrated circuit mask pattern, which comprises: 2. A method for generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, comprising: (E) extracting a hierarchical structure of cells from the layout data for integrated circuit design, and uniquely identifying the cells. The step of generating and recording cell structure data composed of pattern data and cell reference data, and (F) determining the cell-cell overlap from the root cell toward the bottom cell based on the obtained cell structure data, and overlapping them. Judging from the above, cells that can be hierarchically processed in cell units are hierarchized cells, and cells that cannot be hierarchically processed in cell units are expanded cells. (G) From the root cell to the bottom cell, the hierarchization cells that have not become expansion cells as a result of the hierarchization processing feasibility determination are In the layout figure and the cells referenced by that cell, all the data in the cells that have been expanded cell judgment are divided into trapezoids and converted as the in-cell data, and the quoted cells are expanded. In the case of a hierarchical cell that is not a cell, a trapezoid generation process of converting the instance zone of the cell as rectangular data, and (H) trapezoidal data obtained in (G) in cell units from the root cell to the bottom cell The step of inputting and obtaining the overlapping data information, which is the overlapping of the data and the cell and the overlapping of the cited cells, from the quoted cell information of the data and the cell structure data; and the overlapping data obtained in (I) and (H). Based on the information, for each cell, the hard zone, which is the exclusive area of the cell that does not interfere with other cells and figures, is obtained for each cell.
A pattern of an integrated circuit mask pattern, characterized in that the zone information exclusive to the cell is recorded as rectangular data together with the trapezoidal data obtained in the trapezoidal data creating step as graphic processing data. How to generate data for processing. 3. The step of determining whether or not the hierarchization process can be performed on a cell-by-cell basis for each cell according to claim 2, is performed in order from (a) cell structure data managing cell information to a root cell to a bottom cell. The first step of extracting cells without expansion marks and (b) of the cells quoted by the cells extracted in (a) without expansion marks are placed in the extraction cells. A second step of registering the cell zone rectangle, (c) a third step of determining the overlap between the registered cell zone rectangle data, and (d) if one cell includes the other cell, include If the expansion mark is attached to the cell on the side where one cell does not include the other cell, it is judged whether the area where the cells do not overlap is more than a predetermined amount, and if it is less than the predetermined amount, the registered cell Expand mark on Has a fourth step of applying, to at (d), it is marked cell as expanded cells 1
It is determined whether or not a predetermined number or more of the same extracted cells have been processed, and if the number is equal to or less than the predetermined number, (b) to
Repeat (d) until all cells are extracted in the same way.
A method for generating data for graphic processing of an integrated circuit mask pattern, characterized in that (a) to (d) are repeated. 4. An apparatus for generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, comprising: (1) extracting means for extracting a cell hierarchical structure from integrated circuit design layout data; (2) recording means for recording cell structure data composed of cell unique pattern data and cell reference data extracted by the extracting means; and (3) all in-cell patterns based on the pattern information of the extracted cell structure data. The trapezoidal data is divided into trapezoidal data and is converted into in-cell data to create trapezoidal data. (4) From the trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal data creating means and the quoted cell information of the extracted cell structure data, Overlapping information extraction means for obtaining overlapping data information, which is the overlapping of cells and pattern data and the overlapping of quoted cells, and (5) Based on the obtained overlapping data information obtained by the overlap information extraction means, for each cell, it does not interfere with other cells and the figure,
The cell-exclusive area is obtained and the cell-exclusive zone creating means for creating the cell-exclusive zone of each cell is obtained. (6) The trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal data creating means and the cell-exclusive zone creating means are obtained. Recording device for recording the rectangular data which is the zone information exclusively for the cells as a trapezoidal data file, and a device for generating data for graphic processing of an integrated circuit mask pattern. 5. An apparatus for generating graphic processing data using a hierarchical structure of an integrated circuit mask pattern, comprising: (1) extracting means for extracting a hierarchical structure of cells from integrated circuit design layout data; (2) recording means for recording cell structure data composed of cell unique pattern data and cell reference data extracted by the extracting means; (3) based on the obtained cell structure data, from the root cell toward the bottom cell, Determine the overlap between cells and cells, and from the determination of the overlap, consider cells that can be hierarchically processed in cell units as hierarchical cells, and cells that cannot be hierarchically processed in cell units as expanded cells. Based on the judgment means for judging whether or not the hierarchization processing can be performed on a cell-by-cell basis for each cell, and (4) the judgment result obtained by the judgment means, the cell does not become an expanded cell. For layered cells, in the cell layout figure and the cells referenced by that cell, all in-cell data for which expanded cell determination has been made are trapezoidally divided and converted as in-cell data and quoted. If the cell being processed is a hierarchical cell that is not an expanded cell, the trapezoid generating means for converting the instance zone of the cell into rectangular data and (5) the trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal generating means are input and Overlapping data information extraction means for obtaining, for each cell, the overlapping data information, which is the overlapping of the data and the cell and the overlapping of the cited cells, from the quoted cell information of the data and the cell structure data toward the bottom cell, (6) Based on the overlapping data information obtained by the overlapping data information extraction means, the exclusive area of each cell that does not interfere with other cells and figures is determined. Cell-exclusive zone creating means for creating a cell-exclusive zone of each cell, (7) trapezoidal data obtained by the trapezoidal data creating means, and cell-exclusive zone information obtained by the cell-exclusive zone creating means. An apparatus for generating graphic processing data of an integrated circuit mask pattern, comprising: recording means for recording certain rectangular data as a trapezoidal data file.