TCAD physical verification for reticle enhancement techniques

The industry's accelerating use of reticle enhancement technologies-optical proximity correction and phase shift masking-has brought along with it a n eed for automatic verification of photomask images, which are no longer exa ct replicas of the circuit design layout. Fortunately, this need can be ade quately met using TCAD software solutions that provide built-in design rule checking alongside model-based lithography checking. In the end, today's m ost advanced mask layouts can be verified for enhancement structure synthes is accuracy, structural integrity, and conformance to mask fabrication rule s in one pass.