Mask Rule Checker

SmartMRC™ is no longer distributed by XYALIS and is now part of Synopsys® CATS™.

As the cost of a complete mask set has dramatically increased and now represents a significant part of the overall project cost, it is critical for design teams, mask data preparation teams, and mask shops to implement a robust and repeatable Mask Data Preparation flow, which increases the productivity of the mask set creation and removes any risk of error.

At the end of the design stage it is important to verify that the Optical Proximity Correction step, now required by the most advanced processes, has not introduced problems, and prior to mask manufacturing a final verification pass must identify any fracturing and job deck errors.

Design Rule Checkers are not designed to efficiently handle the amount of data required by the verification of a full mask, and mask specific constraints are not pre-defined in those tools.

Synopsys SmartMRC™ is the fastest and most advanced rule checker dedicated to masks. It provides a final quality assurance step before mask manufacturing:

• Detects a wide range of design and mask rule violations at the mask level before manufacturing
• Identifies open / short errors and missing or redundant patterns after OPC
• Compares data between two versions of the same mask
• Powerful mask data handling for boolean operations or repair of mask data
• Performs pattern matching to help with hot-spot detection

Please, address directly your requests to your local Synopsys® distributor.