A system and method for providing a cell layout for multiple patterning technology is provided. An area to be patterned is divided into alternating sites corresponding to the various masks. During a layout process, sites located along a boundary of a cell are limited to having patterns in the mask associated with the boundary site. When placed, the individual cells are arranged such that the adjoining cells alternate the sites allocated to the various masks. In this manner, the designer knows when designing each individual cell that the mask pattern for one cell will be too close to the mask pattern for an adjoining cell.