Topology and context-based pattern extraction using line-segment Voronoi diagram

Abstract

Early identification of problematic patterns in real designs is of great value as the lithographic simulation tools face significant timing challenges. To reduce the processing time such a tool selects only a fraction of possible patterns, which have a probable area of failure, with the risk of missing some problematic patterns. In this paper, we introduce a fast method to automatically extract patterns based on their structure and context, using the Voronoi diagram of VLSI design shapes. We first identify possible problematic locations, represented as gauge centers, and then use the derived locations to extract windows and problematic patterns from the design layout. The problematic locations are prioritized by the shape and proximity information of design polygons. We performed experiments for pattern selection in a portion of a 22nm random logic design layout. The design layout had 38584 design polygons (consisting of 199946 line-segments) on layer Mx, and 7079 markers generated by an Optical Rule Checker (ORC) tool. We verified our approach by comparing the coverage of our extracted patterns to the ORC generated markers.