SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING REPETITIVE WORK UNITS

During a method for generating a mask pattern for a photo-mask, a target pattern is partitioned into subsets of the target pattern. The subsets of the target pattern may be selected so that at least some of the subsets are approximately identical, thereby dividing the subsets into a degenerate group and a non-degenerate group. A group of the subsets may include multiple shapes, and a given target pattern may be significantly larger than a pre-determined length scale and a given shape in the multiple shapes is smaller than the pre-determined length scale. The non-degenerate group of subsets of the target pattern may be distributed to multiple processors. These processors may be used to determine subsets of the mask pattern based on the non-degenerate group of subsets of the target pattern. The subsets of the mask pattern may be combined to generate the mask pattern.