L-Shape based Layout Fracturing for E-Beam Lithography

Layout fracturing is a fundamental step in mask data preparation and e-beam lithography (EBL) writing. To increase EBL throughput, recently a new L-shape writing strategy is proposed, which calls for new L-shape fracturing, versus the conventional rectangular fracturing. Meanwhile, during layout fracturing, one must minimize very small/narrow features, also called slivers, due to manufacturability concern. This paper addresses this new research problem of how to perform L-shaped fracturing with sliver minimization. We propose two novel algorithms. The first one, rectangular merging (RM), starts from a set of rectangular fractures and merges them optimally to form L-shape fracturing. The second algorithm, direct L-shape fracturing (DLF), directly and effectively fractures the input layouts into L-shapes with sliver minimization. The experimental results show that our algorithms are very effective

Methodology for standard cell compliance and detailed placement for triple patterning lithography

As the feature size of semiconductor process further scales to sub-16nm technology node, triple patterning lithography (TPL) has been regarded one of the most promising lithography candidates. M1 and contact layers, which are usually deployed within standard cells, are most critical and complex parts for modern digital designs. Traditional design flow that ignores TPL in early stages may limit the potential to resolve all the TPL conflicts. In this paper, we propose a coherent framework, including standard cell compliance and detailed placement to enable TPL friendly design. Considering TPL constraints during early design stages, such as standard cell compliance, improves the layout decomposability. With the pre-coloring solutions of standard cells, we present a TPL aware detailed placement, where the layout decomposition and placement can be resolved simultaneously. Our experimental results show that, with negligible impact on critical path delay, our framework can resolve the conflicts much more easily, compared with the traditional physical design flow and followed layout decomposition

E-BLOW: E-Beam Lithography Overlapping aware Stencil Planning for MCC System

Electron beam lithography (EBL) is a promising maskless solution for the technology beyond 14nm logic node. To overcome its throughput limitation, recently the traditional EBL system is extended into MCC system. %to further improve the throughput. In this paper, we present E-BLOW, a tool to solve the overlapping aware stencil planning (OSP) problems in MCC system. E-BLOW is integrated with several novel speedup techniques, i.e., successive relaxation, dynamic programming and KD-Tree based clustering, to achieve a good performance in terms of runtime and solution quality. Experimental results show that, compared with previous works, E-BLOW demonstrates better performance for both conventional EBL system and MCC system

Dependence of energy dissipation on annealing temperature of melt–spun NdFeB permanent magnet materials

A model of magnetic hysteresis which was developed originally for soft magnetic materials has been applied to melt–spun ribbons of Nd2Fe14B‐based material. The crucial ideas in the model description of hysteresis center on a dissipation of energy due to hysteresis which is proportional to the change in magnetization. The Nd2Fe14B material was melt–spun amorphous and then annealed for a period of 24 h at temperatures ranging from 700 to 950 °C. This resulted in different grain sizes, depending on annealing temperature. Consequently the hysteresis curves represent the properties of the material as a function of both annealing temperature and grain size. It was found that the magnetic properties varied systematically with annealing temperature, and hence grain size, as would be expected. When modeling the magnetic properties it was found that the model parameters also varied systematically, in particular, the energy dissipation parameter k was to a first approximation a simple linear function of the annealing temperature and decreased with increasing annealing temperature as a result of grain growth. Therefore, this study revealed a basic relationship between materials processing conditions, microstructure, model parameters, and magnetic properties

Mechanisms of Oxygen Vacancy Aggregation in SiO2 and HfO2

Dielectric oxide films in electronic devices undergo significant structural changes during device operation under bias. These changes are usually attributed to aggregation of oxygen vacancies resulting in formation of oxygen depleted regions and conductive filaments. However, neutral oxygen vacancies have high diffusion barriers in ionic oxides and their interaction and propensity for aggregation are still poorly understood. In this paper we briefly review the existing data on static configurations of neutral dimers and trimers of oxygen vacancies in technologically relevant SiO2 and HfO2 and then provide new results on the structure and properties of these defects in amorphous SiO2 and HfO2. These results demonstrate weak interaction between neutral O vacancies, which does not explain their quick aggregation. We propose that trapping of electrons, injected from an electrode, by the vacancies may result in creation of new neutral vacancies in the vicinity of pre-existing vacancies. We describe this mechanism in a-SiO2 and demonstrate that this process becomes more efficient as the vacancy clusters grow larger

Efficient parametrization of complex molecule-surface force fields

We present an efficient scheme for parametrizing complex molecule-surface force fields from ab initio data. The cost of producing a sufficient fitting library is mitigated using a 2D periodic embedded slab model made possible by the quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics scheme in CP2K. These results were then used in conjunction with genetic algorithm (GA) methods to optimize the large parameter sets needed to describe such systems. The derived potentials are able to well reproduce adsorption geometries and adsorption energies calculated using density functional theory. Finally, we discuss the challenges in creating a sufficient fitting library, determining whether or not the GA optimization has completed, and the transferability of such force fields to similar molecules. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Calculating the entropy loss on adsorption of organic molecules at insulating surfaces

Although it is recognized that the dynamic behavior of adsorbing molecules strongly affects the entropic contribution to adsorption free energy, detailed studies of the adsorption entropy of large organic molecules at insulating surfaces are still rare. We compared adsorption of two different functionalized organic molecules, 1,3,5-tri(4-cyano-4,4-biphenyl)benzene (TCB) and 1,4-bis(cyanophenyl)-2,5-bis(decyloxy)benzene (CDB), on the KCl(001) surface using density functional theory (DFT) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The accuracy of the van der Waals corrected DFT-D3 was benchmarked using Møller–Plesset perturbation theory calculations. Classical force fields were then parametrized for both the TCB and CDB molecules on the KCl(001) surface. These force fields were used to perform potential of mean force (PMF) calculations of adsorption of individual molecules and extract information on the entropic contributions to adsorption energy. The results demonstrate that entropy loss upon adsorption are significant for flexible molecules. Even at relatively low temperatures (e.g., 400 K), these effects can match the enthalpic contribution to adsorption energ

Atomistic Modeling of the Electrical Conductivity of Single‐Walled Carbon Nanotube Junctions

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have many interesting properties that make them a focus of research in a wide range of technological applications. In CNT films, the bottleneck in charge transport is typically attributed to higher resistance at CNT junctions, leading to electrical transport characteristics that are quite different from individual CNTs. Previous simulations confirm this; however, a systematic study of transport across junctions is still lacking in the literature. Herein, density functional tight binding (DFTB) theory combined with the nonequilibrium Green's functions (NEGF) method is used to systematically calculate current across a range of CNT junctions. A random sampling approach is used to sample an extensive library of junction structures. The results demonstrate that the conductivity of CNT contacts depends on the overlap area between nanotubes and exponentially on the distances between the carbon atoms of the interacting CNTs. Two models based solely on the atomic positions of carbon atoms within the nanotubes are developed and evaluated: a simple equation using only the smallest C–C separation and a more sophisticated model using the positions of all C atoms. These junction current models can be used to predict transport in larger-scale simulations where the CNT fabric structure is known