US 11,809,803 B2
Method for evaluating failure-in-time
Chin-Shen Lin, Taipei (TW); Ming-Hsien Lin, Hsinchu County (TW); Kuo-Nan Yang, Hsinchu (TW); and Chung-Hsing Wang, Baoshan Township (TW)
Assigned to TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING COMPANY, LTD., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd., Hsinchu (TW)
Filed on Jun. 15, 2022, as Appl. No. 17/840,887.
Application 17/840,887 is a continuation of application No. 17/204,275, filed on Mar. 17, 2021, granted, now 11,366,951.
Application 17/204,275 is a continuation of application No. 16/214,243, filed on Dec. 10, 2018, granted, now 10,956,647, issued on Mar. 23, 2021.
Application 16/214,243 is a continuation of application No. 15/355,410, filed on Nov. 18, 2016, granted, now 10,157,258, issued on Dec. 18, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2022/0309224 A1, Sep. 29, 2022
Int. Cl. G06F 30/398 (2020.01); G06F 30/394 (2020.01); G06F 30/367 (2020.01)
CPC G06F 30/398 (2020.01) [G06F 30/394 (2020.01); G06F 30/367 (2020.01)] 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A failure-in-time (FIT) evaluation method for an integrated circuit (IC), comprising:
accessing data representing a layout of the IC that comprises a metal line and a plurality of vertical interconnect accesses (VIAs), wherein the metal line is a straight line in a metal layer and is divided into a first sub-line with a first line width and a second sub-line with a second line width;
picking a plurality of nodes along the first and second sub-lines of the metal line;
dividing the metal line into a plurality of metal segments based on the nodes; and
determining FIT value for each of the metal segments to verify the layout and fabricate the IC,
wherein the first line width of the first sub-line is greater than the second line width of the second sub-line in a first direction,
wherein one of the metal segments comprises a portion of the first sub-line with the first line width and a portion of the second sub-line with the second line width, and the one of the metal segments is longer than the metal segment comprising the remaining first sub-line and the metal segment comprising the remaining second sub-line in a second direction, and the second direction is perpendicular to the first direction.