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Equation 14 · Part 6 · Patterning at the Limit: What Actually Happens When a Chip Is Manufactured

addition

EPE=σoverlay2+σCD2+σLER2,\mathrm{EPE} = \sqrt{\sigma_{\mathrm{overlay}}^{2} + \sigma_{\mathrm{CD}}^{2} + \sigma_{\mathrm{LER}}^{2}},
addition

What this part means

Add the term after the plus sign to the term or group before it.

Its job in the formula

Add the term after the plus sign to the term or group before it.

The passage around this formula

If the contributing terms were independent and Gaussian, the budget would combine as EPE=σoverlay2+σCD2+σLER2\mathrm{EPE} = \sqrt{\sigma_{\mathrm{overlay}}^{2} + \sigma_{\mathrm{CD}}^{2} + \sigma_{\mathrm{LER}}^{2}}. and the largest term would dominate. That independence assumption is exactly what makes the model useful and exactly where it is weakest: overlay and local variability share common causes through the same exposure, the same etch and the same stack. Treat the expression as a budgeting device, not a physical law. The roadmap cites published numerical simulations estimating that overlay takes about 40 per cent of the edge placement error budget and line-edge roughness about 25 per cent [ 1 ] . On that split, placement — not printing — is the single largest contributor.

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Learn the underlying idea

Addition combines quantities; subtraction measures the signed difference between them. Parentheses show what is combined before the rest of the expression is evaluated.

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Sources cited in the surrounding passage

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