text: prior to the first step in the method of the invention , the desired design is assembled using industry - standard layout tools and practices . the invention is performed on a semiconductor design as rendered in fig1 which includes a substrate 1010 , typically silicon , upon which is a dielectric layer 104 . formed within the dielectric layer 1040 are metal ( e copper ) layers 1020 and dielectric pedestals 1030 . referring to fig9 the method of the present invention begins with the group of steps comprising the generation 910 of hole and fill information . initially , it is necessary to identify regions from which metal fill and / or metal hole shapes must be excluded these include identification of logo regions and fuse bays ( identified as openings in the final passivation that are not covered by metal ). an embodiment of this step is illustrated in fig7 . next , metal fill shapes are created 920 for each metal level . metal fill shapes are placed wherever there is enough empty space on a given metal level to accommodate them . metal fill shapes are generally kept at least as far away from “ real ” metal shapes on that level as the standard minimum space that has been defined for that metal layer . regions of whitespace ( i . e ., wide regions devoid of metal wires ) that could possibly accommodate metal fill shapes are located by expanding all metal shapes by the mx / mxfill set - back per edge ( i . e ., at least standard minimum space for that level ), and taking the complement of the unioned result . metal fill shapes of a preferred size are then placed within the “ region - to - be - filled ” compliment shapes , on a specified pattern or grid . if a metal fill shape does not fit entirely within the allotted region - to - be - filled , it is discarded entirely . that is , only whole mxfill shapes are retained . the preferred shape for mxfill is a square that is three - times the minimum - width , and the preferred layout pattern is an offset - grid with a pitch equal to twice the mx minimum space . using this fill size and pattern , the maximum local mxfill - pattern - density in a region of fill is the preferred value of about 45 %. in the next step , metal hole shapes are created 930 for each metal level . metal hole shapes are placed in the interior of all wide lines where there is sufficient room to accommodate them . metal hole shapes are generally kept at least as far away from the inside edge of metal lines as standard minimum linewidth for that metal level . further , metal hole shapes are kept at least as far away from non - redundant vias ( on the via levels directly above or directly below the metal level of interest ) as required by standard via - coverage rules . regions of wide metal that could possibly accommodate metal fill shapes are located by shrinking all metal shapes by the mx / mxhole set - in per edge ( i . e ., at least the standard minimum line width for that level ), and subtracting from those shapes the non - redundant via shapes ( expanded by the via / mxhole set - back per edge ). metal hole shapes of a preferred size are then placed within the resulting “ region - to - be - cheesed ” shapes , on a specified pattern or grid . if a metal hole shape does not fit entirely within the allotted region - to - be - cheesed , it is discarded entirely . that is , only whole mxhole shapes are retained . one shape for mxhole is a square that is two - times the minimum - space ( i . e ., per edge ); and the preferred layout pattern is an offset - grid with a pitch equal to twice the mx minimum space . using this hole size and pattern , the maximum local metal - pattern - density in a region containing shapes is 80 %; or equivalently the maximum mxhole density is 20 %. an embodiment of this step is illustrated in fig8 . once these steps are completed , all generated fill and hole shapes are collected . this collection is then merged with original design data . this step is performed by standard shapes - processing means and tools , as are well known in the art . the group of steps comprising design verification 940 are performed next . first , the construction of generated fill and hole shapes is done using standard design - rule - checking ( drc ) tools to verify that the following prescribed values are observed : mxfill outside mx ; mxfill outside mxexclud ( e . g ., logos , fuse bays ); mxhole inside mx ; mxhole outside vx , vx − 1 ; mxhole outside mxchexcl , where for example , “ m1fill outside m1 ” refers to a rule requiring that all m1fill shapes must lie outside any m1 shape by at least a prescribed minimum distance . similarly , “ m2hole inside m2 ” refers to a rule requiring that all m2hole shapes are entirely inside m2 by at least a prescribed minimum distance . an embodiment of this step is illustrated in fig4 . next , checking of the integrity of the original data levels is performed 950 using logical - versus - schematic ( lvs ) tools to repeat the verification of the data levels present in the original design , including everything except the generated mxfill and mxhole . then , a check may be performed 960 to ensure that the resulting metal satisfies copper damascene rules . using standard drc tools , it can be verified that the wide - line / wide - space and local - metal - pattern - density rules are observed ( or can be waived ) for the resolved metal , where metal = mx + mxfill − mxhole . an embodiment of this step is illustrated in fig5 . the next step 970 is to optionally analyze the timing of the modified layout design . this step is not required in all cases , since in general , electrical perturbations due to fill and hole shapes are modest and predictable . thus , timing adjustments are not generally needed after mxfill and mxhole generation . in those applications where it is necessary to analyze the close timing , it should be noted that metal fill shapes , as described herein , are virtually transparent to the circuit . in virtually all cases , the change in capacitance of a signal wire due to the presence or absence of nearby metal fill is very much smaller than the capacitance changes associated with the specified process tolerances for cmos technologies . in general , metal fill shapes do not effect the timing of a design . metal hole shapes , as described above , do not affect the resistance of narrow lines . narrow lines are defined as too small to receive hole shapes , typically less than six times the minimum linewidth . wide lines are defined as wide enough to possibly receive hole shapes , typically , six times the minimum linewidth . since most timing tools are not able to accommodate either a linewidth - dependent sheet resistance , or a pattern - density - dependent sheet resistance ( rs ), a designer must choose a single value for the rs of all the wires , regardless of their width . the standard choice is the rs for minimum width wires , as those minimum - width wires make up the vast majority of interconnects in a standard design . for these designs , the presence or absence of mxhole shapes does not affect any of the parameters used in timing analyses . similarly , pattern - density , linewidth and nested / isolated effects on rs are normally ignored . for those designers with more sophisticated timing tools , the effects of mxhole shapes can be modeled as a linewidth - dependence on rs or , more practically , as a linewidth - dependent etch bias . these dependencies are normally known well in advance , and anticipated in the initial circuit timings , thus obviating the need for retiming analysis after mxhole generation . referring now to fig1 an initial embodiment of the structure and steps of the invention is presented . regions 110 represent metal lines of a first layer m1 . regions 120 represent metal lines of a second layer m2 which is distinct and electrically isolated from m1 , except where electrical connection is made between m1 and m2 by v1 vias 130 . referring now to fig2 via blockages 210 are identified and illustrated as new levels such as v1blockm1 , v1blockm2 . for each via level , all vias that contact wide metal above , or wide metal below ( but not both ) are identified . n . b . for the sake of this disclosure , “ wide metal ” is defined as any metal structure wide enough in its minor dimension to possibly accommodate a metal hole shape : for standard metal hole parameters ( preferred dimensions and layout grid ), a line is “ wide ” if it is at least six times the minimum linewidth for the metal level in question . also shown in fig2 is the result of an optional step of combining adjacent vias , which results in combined vias 230 . for each via level , for the set of vias that contacts wide metal only above , and separately for the set of vias that contacts wide metal only below , expand and then shrink those via shapes by the vxblockage spacing , per edge . then union the result , to simplify overlapping and abutting shapes . this has the effect of representing a row of vias with their least enclosing rectangle , which can greatly improve the computational efficiency of later steps . the preferred value for vxblockagespacing is ( 2 * mxhole_setback_from_vx + mxhole_size )/ 2 , which is approximately equal to the via size , assuming preferred values for mxhole_setback_from_vx and mxhole_size . in any case , the smallest useful value for vxfarmspacing ( i . e ., a distance characterizing the largest spacing between vias in a redundant via ) is one - half of the via minimum space . referring to fig3 via farms are identified and new levels such as v1farm 310 are defined by the least enclosing polygon of the via form . that is , for each via level , identify all vias that contact wide metal above and wide metal below . potential vxfarms are identified as vias that contact both . for each via level , for the set of vias that contacts both wide metal above and below , expand and then shrink those via shapes by the vxfarmspacing , per edge . for the mxhole layout grid , one value for vxfarmspacing is ( 3 * mxhole - pitch − mxhole_size )/ 2 , or two times the mx minimum linewidth ( which is typically equal to the hole size ), assuming preferred values for mxhole_size and mxhole_pitch . in any case , the smallest useful value for vxfarm spacing is one - half of the via minimum spacing . next , actual via farms are identified . for each potential via farm shape , intersect those shapes with wide metal above and with wide metal below . each resulting shape completely covers the collection of tightly - spaced redundant vias connecting a single piece of wide metal above with a single piece of wide metal below . then place mxhole shapes ( e . g ., m1hole 410 ), avoiding via blockage shapes ( e . g ., v1blockm1 210 ), and avoiding vias in the perimeter of via farm 430 shapes . during manufacture , the intersection of a vx shape with a mxhole shape ( on the metal level below ) is not resolved as an electrical connection between the two metal levels . that is , the intersection is not useful as a via ( it does not connect to mx + 1 ). the intersection of a via with a metal hole shape in the level above may resolve as an electrical connection , depending on the process . in either case , no unusual defect or reliability issues result from any possible intersection of vias in a via farm with hole shapes in wide metal above or below . if the mxhole local density is small ( e . g ., about 20 %), then only a small fraction of the area of the vias 130 will be lost from the interior of a normally - constructed via farm 430 . in general , only 25 % or less of the hole area on level mx can be lost due to interactions with vias in the interior of a via farm . [ 0048 ] fig5 depicts a resulting m1 metal layer 110 wherein the m1hole shapes 510 are resolved . [ 0049 ] fig6 illustrates that for the mxhole size and layout ( resulting in 20 % maximum local mxhole density ), a typical via farm will lose 20 % of the via area from the interior of a via farm . up to 25 % of the mxhole density will be lost , depending on the local via density . [ 0050 ] fig7 shows a typical mxfill pattern 720 of one size and grid . “ real ” metal shapes 710 are included for reference . [ 0051 ] fig8 depicts a typical mxhole pattern 810 of a typical size and grid . mx shapes 820 and “ region - to - be - cheesed ” shapes 830 are included for reference . while embodiments of the present invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration , many modifications and changes will become apparent to those skilled in the art . accordingly , the appended claims are intended to encompass all such modifications and changes as fall within the true spirit and scope of this invention .