Amyn Poonawala

Phone: 831-***-****, Email: abpn3s@r.postjobfree.com

Web: http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~amyn

SUMMARY

My expertise consists of applying image/signal processing and optimization techniques to develop

computationally efficient RET solutions and solving inverse problems in (single and double exposure)

optical microlithography.

EDUCATION

Ph.D. - Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, expected June 2007.

M.S. - Computer Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz, March 2004.

B.E. - Computer Science and Engineering, University of Mumbai, August 2001.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Jun 2006 Sep 2006 Technical Intern, Intel Corporation, Components Research Group,

Hillsboro, Oregon, USA.

Jun 2005 Sep 2005 Technical Intern, Intel Corporation, Lithography Modeling Group,

Hillsboro, Oregon, USA

Sep 2001 Present Graduate Student Researcher, Multi-Dimensional Signal Processing

(MDSP) Research Group, UC Santa Cruz.

May 2000 Oct 2000 Software Engineer, Jubilee Education Association, Mumbai, India.

PUBLICATIONS

A. Poonawala, Y. Borodovsky, and P. Milanfar, "ILT for Double Exposure Lithography with

Conventional and Novel Materials", Proceedings of the SPIE Advanced Lithography Symposium, Feb

2007.

A. Poonawala, and P. Milanfar, "Double Exposure Mask Synthesis Using Inverse Lithography",

submitted to Journal of Microlithography, Microfabrications, and Microsystems (JM3).

A. Poonawala, and P. Milanfar, "A Pixel-Based Regularization Approach to Inverse Lithography",

accepted for publication, Microelectronic Engineering.

A. Poonawala and P. Milanfar, "OPC and PSM design using inverse lithography: A non-linear

optimization approach", Proceedings of the SPIE Microlithography Symposium, Optical

Microlithography XIX poster session, Feb 2006.

A. Poonawala and P. Milanfar, "Fast and Low-complexity Mask Design in Optical Microlithography -

An Inverse Imaging Problem", IEEE Transactions on Image Processing, 16:3, 774-788, Mar 2007.

A. Poonawala and P. Milanfar, "Prewarping Techniques in Imaging: Applications in Nanotechnology

and Biotechnology", Proceedings of the SPIE Conference on Electronic Imaging Science and

Technology, Jan 2005.

A. Poonawala, Reconstructing Shapes from Support and Brightness Functions, Masters Thesis,

Computer Engineering Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, Mar 2004.

A. Poonawala, P. Milanfar, and R. Gardner, Shape from Support-Type Functions: Algorithms and

Statistical Analysis, Journal of Mathematical Imaging and Computer Vision, 24:229-244, Mar 2006.

A. Poonawala, P. Milanfar, and R. Gardner, On the Uncertainty Analysis of Shape Reconstruction

from Areas of Silhouettes, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference on Advances in Pattern

Recognition, Calcutta, India, Dec 2003.

A. Poonawala, P. Milanfar, and R. Gardner, A Statistical Analysis of Shape Reconstruction from

Areas of Shadows, Proceedings of the 36th Asilomar Conference on Signals, Systems and Computers,

Pacific Grove, CA, Nov 2002.

LITHOGRAPHY RELATED PROJECTS

Inverse Lithography Technology (ILT) Mask Design for Resolution Enhancement in Optical

Microlithography: (Mar 04 Dec 05)

The goal is to propose novel pixel-based ILT solutions for automated design and development of fast, low-

complexity OPC (optical proximity correction) and phase shift masks (EPSM, CPL and APSM). Our ILT

framework uses a continuous function formulation and gradient-based techniques to systematically explore the

solution space. We have also introduced a novel regularization framework to promote desirable properties (like

discrete-tone, manufacturability, good process-window, etc) in our synthesized masks. Our solution

automatically and optimally places assist-bars, improves the aerial image contrast, and guarantees good contour

fidelity.

Double Exposure Mask Synthesis Using Inverse Lithography (k1>=0.25): (Jan 06 Present)

The goal here is to synthesize masks for double exposure (single development) lithography systems using

conventional resists with very low k1 values (0.25-0.3). Our algorithm is based on the ILT framework and works

by automatically decomposing the (gray-level) aerial image into two (overlapping) parts. Phase-conflicts are

also automatically resolved as part of the solution. Furthermore, mask complexity, tone, contour fidelity, and

mask-to-mask alignment error requirements are also included as part of the optimization.

Double Exposure Single Development Lithography for k1

Sep 06)

As part of my summer internship, I studied and modeled novel materials with properties which enable

frequency doubling for double exposure single development/etch lithography systems. Reversible contrast

enhancement layers (CEL) and two-photon absorption resists were explored as two potential candidates.

Furthermore, inverse lithography techniques were employed to synthesize masks which enable printing 2-D

features on an 80nm pitch (k1=0.187) using CEL.

Contact Hole Printing: (Jun 05 Sep 05)

Synthesized the mask and studied the resist stack, photo-resist properties, illumination, and other lithography

process conditions conducive to improving the fidelity, process window, and 3-D resist profile for end-to-end

and trench-to-trench contact holes with very low k1 values.

Applications of Pre-warping Techniques to Nanotechnology and Biotechnology: (Mar 04 - Oct 04)

Electron beam lithography suffers from forward and back scattering of electrons, which lead to distortions called

e-beam proximity effects. ILT framework was employed to modify the dose and the patterns traced by the

electron gun to achieve higher resolution. The technique is also readily extendible to optical maskless

lithography and diffractive optical element mask design for off-axis illumination.

In addition, I also studied the applications of the above techniques to improve the perceived image in 'electronic

visual prostheses', which aims at providing limited vision to the blind by using a prosthetic retinally-implanted

chip capable of electrically stimulating the retinal neuron cells.

OTHER PROJECTS

Tomography - Shape from Areas of Silhouettes (Shadows) and Support Functions, (MS Thesis)

The objective of this project was to reconstruct the shape of an n-dimensional unknown object using noisy

measurements of the areas of its projections (shadows) and support functions obtained from multiple viewing

directions. Novel estimation algorithms were proposed to solve both the above problems. We also performed a

systematic statistical analysis of the above estimation problems via the Cramer-Rao Lower Bound (CRLB), and

used them to develop confidence regions, thereby aiding a statistical performance analysis of the proposed

algorithms. The applications are in robotics (object recognition), astronomy (asteroid shape estimation), and

medical imaging (PET scan).

.

Image Segmentation and Tracking using Active Contour Models Snakes (Jan 02 Mar 02)

Studied and implemented the traditional snake model as well as the GVF (Gradient Vector Flow) snakes and

used them for detecting convex/concave object boundaries in images.

Image Enhancement for a bio-medical application (Jan 01 Jun 01)

Imaging the mesenteric microcirculatory network of a rat and image enhancement of the grabbed image to

verify and quantify the changes in diameter/pressure of the blood capillaries owing to vasodilation induced by

garlic. The project involved implementing several image enhancement techniques to improve the visual quality

of the captured frames. The implementation was done using C++.

HONORS, AWARDS, AND SERVICES

Reviewer Journal of Microlithography, Microfabrication, and Microsystems, IEEE Transactions on

Image Processing, EURASIP Journal, IEEE Conference on Image Processing, Asilomar Conference on

Signals, Systems and Computers,

Chancellors Fellowship, UC Santa Cruz, September 2001 - June 2002.

Rank 1st amongst all Engineering Departments, Thadomal Shahani Engineering College, June 1998.

Rank 12th amongst 150,000 students appearing for the Higher Secondary Certificate (Class XII) Science

examination in the entire city of Mumbai, March 1997.

TECHNICAL SKILLS

Programming Matlab, Prolith, C, Visual Basic, Assembly.

Math and Stats tools Mathematica, WinBUGS, Maple, R.

Operating systems Windows, Linux, Solaris.

Other skills Experience with lithography simulators, strong analytic skills,

presentation and technical writing skills, team-worker.

REFERENCES

Available upon request.

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