TECHNOLOGY DESCRIPTION METHODS FOR LIGA PROCESSES

The creation of new products in LIGA technology starts with the layout of x-ray masks. In this state the designer has to take into account n ot only the shapes and the sizes of the intended structures, but also a set of layout and design rules imposed by the various LIGA process s teps and the materials used. Like in microelectronics automatic rule c hecking can eliminate the need for frequent redesign cycles arid can h ence result in a considerable reduction of design cost. The preconditi on for an automatic rule check of the layout data is a suitable rule f ormalization that leads to a technology database which CAD tools can a ccess to process the rules. This paper introduces a method to formaliz e LIGA design rules using the object-oriented process description lang uage DINGO-ML.