A high-speed 2-D topography simulator based on a pixel model

A high-speed two-dimensional (2-D) topography simulator which operates in X-Windows has been developed. This program, named TIGER (Topography Image GEneration Routine), uses a newly developed pixel model, in which regions of the same material are depicted by pixels with the same value (i.e. the same color) and material boundaries are regarded as color boundaries. New cross-sectional profiles are sequentially created by drawing basic geometrical figures on a cross-sectional profile of a former process step. No complex operations are required for boundary line definition, such as loop removal. Realistic cross sections of an LSI with three interconnection layers and an SST transistor with a complex structure were created by this simulator. The total simulation time is only one or two minutes for all the processing steps of an LSI.