METHOD OF DESIGNING A RETICLE AND FORMING A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE THEREWITH

摘要

A method of designing and forming a reticle (404), as well as the manufacture of a semiconductor substrate (410) using the reticle, includes defining a first edge of a reticle layout file. The first edge corresponds to a reference feature (12,14). The method further includes using the reference feature to insert a subresolution assist feature (62,64) into the reticle layout file. The subresolution assist feature is at an angle (theta) with respect to a line (82,84) containing the first edge, wherein the angle differs from 90 degrees. In one embodiment, the subresolution assist features can be manually or automatically inserted into the layout file after the locations of the assist features have been determined. The subresolution assist features are not patterned on the substrate, but assist in forming resist features of uniform dimension.