  At advanced process nodes, pattern matching techniques have been used in the
detection of lithography hotspots, which can affect yields of manufactured
integrated circuits. Although commercial pattern matching and in-design hotspot
fixing tools have been developed, engineers still need to verify that specific
hotspot patterns in routed designs can indeed be detected or even repaired by
software tools. Therefore, there is the need to create test cases with which
targeted hotspot patterns can be generated in routed layouts by using an APR
(automatic placement and routing) tool. In this paper, we propose a methodology
of creating hotspot patterns in the routing space by using Synopsys tools.
Also, methods for repairing hotspots during the physical design phase are
presented. With the use of the proposed hotspot creation methodology, we can
generate routed designs containing targeted hotspot patterns. As a result, the
effectiveness of hotspot detection rules, hotspot fixing guidance rules, and
relevant software tool functions can be verified.
