Design for manufacturability, or DFM, is an integration of manufacturing data and design procedure for better yield and design efficiency. An interaction and communication between designer and manufacturer is enhanced thereby for more accurate, faster, and more efficient design. The existing DFM layout parasitic extraction (LPE) uses equation-based solutions to predict the device behaviors on chip. The equations are obtained by best fitting to the limited silicon data from the test patterns. The existing design methodology experiences various problems. In one example, the electrical drift effects induced by process variation cannot be separated and accurately predicted by an equation. The resource requirements, either silicon or human, for an equation-based solution poses a fundamental accuracy limitation. The turnaround time and the quality of the equation fitting to silicon are not satisfactory. Furthermore, the equation-based approach cannot handle abrupt/discontinuous layout geometry well without costly high-order approximation and the risk of potential singular point.
USPTO Backgrounds
USPTO Backgrounds