Automated OPC Model Collection, Cleaning and Calibration Flow

OPC model calibration requires thousands of experimental data points. These are then used to calibrate an OPC model. Today, the majority of these steps are performed manually. Metrology for example involves taking the CD-SEM offline for an operator to program it. Considerable time savings is possible by writing the CD-SEM recipe offline. Experimental data preparation is also often performed manually. Manual review of thousands of data points is a tedious task prone to human errors. Here again, automation can greatly alleviate the engineering effort, reduce cycle-time and improve data quality. Data quality improvement alone has been shown to have a significant benefit to model calibration accuracy and predictability. In this paper we present an automated solution for the currently engineering effort intensive components of the OPC model calibration flow. The flow we present is integrated inside the OPC environment. We suggest best practices identified through the implementation of an automated flow, and discuss benefits. Our results demonstrate the capability and quantify the benefits which automation brings in human effort, reduced time to accurate model and improved model quality.