More than ever before, the creation and conversion of design data has become an integral part of the process of creating semiconductor chips. Historically, data preparation largely consisted of complex Boolean operations, fracturing, frame generation and job decks. The focus was on cycle time, cost and accuracy. Subwavelength manufacturing required for today's advanced technologies requires extraordinarily complex and expensive simulation-based software tools and a focus on manufacturability. These new elements require an even broader understanding of the entire process from design to lithography. Nevertheless, the process by which IC design data defined and turned into write-ready photomask manufacturing data still is not universally understood. This course will provide a basic overview of the entire design-to-silicon data flow. It will describe the fundamentals of a GDS2 design database and how this relates to the selection of manufacturing equipment, and the relationship to the final photomask and wafer images. The use of Boolean operations and other manipulations of the design data to create photomask layer data, including 'dummy-data,' OPC and PSM, will also be described. DFM will be defined and a general overview of the work being done in the DFM arena to enable high end manufacturing will be presented. In addition, more traditional back-end functions like reticle layout optimization, frame generation, job decks, and fracturing will be covered along with an overview of the use of the SEMI P-10 standard.