Backside Power Rail and Signal Routing for Dense Standard Cells
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Solution Overview
Problem
The miniaturization of integrated circuits poses challenges in design and manufacturing, including stricter specifications and reliability issues, particularly in optimizing standard cell layout designs to improve current resistance, electromigration, and resistance capacitance performance.
Innovation Solution
The solution involves positioning power rails and signal lines on the back-side of the substrate, which reduces the need for upper metal layer tracks, increasing gate density, and providing more routing flexibility and resources by electrically coupling gates and contacts, thereby enhancing current resistance, electromigration, and resistance capacitance performance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If power rails and signal lines are positioned on the front-side of the substrate using upper metal layer tracks, then routing is provided, but current resistance, electromigration, and resistance capacitance performance deteriorate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent moves power rails and signal lines from the front-side (upper metal layers) to the back-side of the substrate, utilizing the back-side dimension for routing. This dimensional transition eliminates the need for extensive upper metal layer tracks while improving current resistance and electromigration performance through shorter, more direct back-side interconnections.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of the conventional approach of routing power and signal lines on the front-side of the substrate, the patent inverts the routing location to the back-side. This inversion resolves the technical contradiction by providing improved electrical performance while reducing the complexity of upper metal layer routing.
2Area of moving object
If standard cell layout design is miniaturized, then device size is reduced and power consumption decreases, but design and manufacturing specifications become stricter and reliability challenges increase
Solution Approach 1:
By utilizing the back-side of the substrate for power rail and signal line routing, the patent reduces the routing demands on the front-side, enabling tighter standard cell layouts. This dimensional separation allows miniaturization while maintaining reliable electrical connections through the simplified back-side routing architecture.
Data Source
AI summary
An integrated circuit includes a first power rail, a conductive structure, a first active region of a first set of transistors and a second active region of a second set of transistors. The first power rail is on a back-side of a substrate, extends in a first direction, and is configured to supply a first supply voltage. The first active region extends in the first direction, and is on a first level of a front-side of the substrate opposite from the back-side. The second active region extends in the first direction, is on the first level of the front-side of the substrate, and is separated from the first active region in a second direction different from the first direction. The conductive structure is on the back-side of the substrate, extends in the first direction, and is electrically coupled to the first active region and the second active region.