Detection of defects on photolithographic masks by cellular neural networks

The paper discusses the detection of weaknesses and defects on photolithographic masks by cellular neural networks. The detection by cellular neural networks is performed with the advantages of their massive parallel architecture. First a survey is given of actual methods for the detections of weaknesses and defects. Then the relations between the structures of the mask layouts and the real structures of the masks are defined by local design rules. These local design rules can also indirectly be used to detect most weaknesses and defects. After that, the design of the operators for the detection of weaknesses and defects are executed on the basis of the local design rules, using the method of Galias that is practicable by cellular neural networks. Then some examples of weakness and defect detections on real mask images by cellular neural networks are presented. Finally the results and future aims are discussed.<>