Assist Antenna Fix Engine for IC Diode Placement
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Solution Overview
Problem
The miniaturization of integrated circuits (ICs) leads to strict design and manufacturing specifications, and existing methods for addressing antenna effect-induced plasma-induced gate oxide damage are labor-intensive, inaccurate, and time-consuming, often resulting in unnecessary diode additions that affect IC manufacturing yield and reliability.
Innovation Solution
The Assist Antenna Fix Engine (AAFE) automatically identifies the number of diodes needed to address antenna violations and generates engineering change order scripts for EDA tools, ensuring accurate diode placement and minimizing overestimation, thereby reducing parasitic capacitance and resistance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If manual methods are used to identify and address antenna violations, then design flexibility is maintained, but the process becomes labor-intensive, time-consuming, and inaccurate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces manual mechanical inspection and identification processes with an automated software engine that uses algorithms to detect antenna violations, calculate required diode counts, and generate placement locations. This substitution eliminates human labor while improving accuracy and reducing time consumption.
Solution Approach 2:
The design system performs self-diagnosis and self-correction by automatically identifying antenna violations, determining the number of diodes needed, and generating placement instructions without external human intervention. The system serves itself by detecting and fixing its own design issues.
2Reliability
If more diodes are added to address antenna violations, then protection against plasma-induced gate oxide damage is improved, but parasitic capacitance and resistance increase, affecting IC performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent calculates and implements only the precise number of diodes needed to address antenna violations, avoiding both under-protection and over-protection. This partial action approach ensures sufficient protection while minimizing the addition of unnecessary diodes that would increase parasitic effects.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes the parameter of diode count from an estimated or manual value to a precisely calculated value based on antenna violation analysis. This parameter optimization ensures adequate protection while minimizing parasitic capacitance and resistance.
3Productivity
If automated tools are used to identify antenna violations and generate diode placement, then productivity and accuracy improve, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The software engine performs multiple functions within a single integrated system: detecting antenna violations, calculating diode counts, determining placement locations, and generating engineering change order scripts. This multi-functionality improves productivity while managing complexity through consolidation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines previously separate tasks (violation detection, diode calculation, placement determination) into a single automated workflow. This merging streamlines the process and improves productivity while the modular architecture manages system complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of designing an integrated circuit (IC) device includes identifying, with a processor, a pin failing a test to determine an antenna effect, identifying, with the processor, a net corresponding to the identified pin failing the test to determine the antenna effect, and creating, with the processor, an engineering change order (ECO) script based on the identified net to insert a diode to address the antenna effect.