1. A method for decomposing a target pattern containing features to be printed on a wafer, into multiple patterns, comprising the steps of: segmenting said target pattern into a plurality of patches; for each of said plurality of patches, identifying critical features within each patch which violate minimum spacing requirements; generating a critical group graph for each of said plurality of patches having critical features, said critical group graph of a given patch defining a coloring scheme of the critical features within said given patch, said critical group graph further identifying critical features extending into adjacent patches to said given patch; generating a global critical group graph for said target pattern, said global critical group graph including said critical group graphs of each of said plurality of patches, and an identification of said features extending into adjacent patches; and coloring said target pattern based on said coloring scheme defined by said global critical group graph.