  For next-generation technology nodes, multiple patterning lithography (MPL)
has emerged as a key solution, e.g., triple patterning lithography (TPL) for
14/11nm, and quadruple patterning lithography (QPL) for sub-10nm. In this
paper, we propose a generic and robust layout decomposition framework for QPL,
which can be further extended to handle any general K-patterning lithography
(K$>$4). Our framework is based on the semidefinite programming (SDP)
formulation with novel coloring encoding. Meanwhile, we propose fast yet
effective coloring assignment and achieve significant speedup. To our best
knowledge, this is the first work on the general multiple patterning
lithography layout decomposition.
