A simulation-based methodology to analyze the impact of edge-length on curvilinear mask accuracy

While the curvilinear mask shapes generated by ILT improve the wafer lithography process window, the efficiency of mask data preparation steps and the MBMW data-path depends on the number of edges used to represent complex curvilinear shapes. Shape simplification methods have been shown to be effective in reducing the number of edges used to represent curvilinear mask data. In this paper, we present the development of an approach to analyze the impact of edge-length variation on curvilinear mask accuracy, which can be used as a practical guidance for edge-based representation of curvilinear shapes for a given mask process.