Efficient and cost-effective systems and methods for detecting and correcting hot spots of semiconductor devices are disclosed. In one aspect, a method includes providing an input file having a device layout; performing a hot spot detection on the input file; and then modifying the device layout based on the hot spots detected to create an output file. In another aspect, a method includes providing an input file having a device layout; selecting a first local region of the device layout; performing a first hot spot detection on the first local region; modifying the first local region based on the hot spots detected to create a first output file; and repeating for other local regions of the device layout. In some aspects, hot spots are detected by comparing parameters of the device layout with a set of hot spot rules to determine if the device layout satisfies the hot spot rules.