Sample plan creation for optical proximity correction with minimal number of clips

Methods, program products, and systems for improving optical proximity correction (OPC) calibration, and automatically determining a minimal number of clips, are disclosed. The method can include using a computing device to perform actions including: calculating a total relevancy score for a projected sample plan including a candidate clip, and wherein the relevancy score is derived from at least one relevancy criterion and a relevancy weight; calculating a relevancy score for the candidate clip, the relevancy score for the candidate clip being a contribution from the candidate clip to the total relevancy score; and adding the candidate clip to a sample plan for the IC layout and removing the candidate clip from the plurality of clips in response a difference in relevancy score between the projected sample plan and one or more previous sample plans substantially fitting a non-linear relevancy score function.