CAD Design Porting Tool for Automated Cell-Level Migration
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current CAD design porting technologies, particularly in microelectronics, face challenges due to the lack of automated tools capable of operating at the cell level, maintaining design kit references, and preserving connectivity, leading to time-consuming and error-prone manual processes.
Innovation Solution
A technology-independent porting tool that operates at the cell level, maintains links to design kits, and uses standardized rules to ensure spatial correspondence and connectivity, allowing for automated porting processes through a Deck rule file, which reduces porting time from weeks to hours or minutes.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual porting operations are performed, then design kit references and connectivity can be maintained, but the process becomes time-consuming and error-prone
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses automated copying of design data from source to target technology. The EDA tool creates a virtual copy of the design structure and automatically transforms it, preserving all connections and references without manual intervention, thus maintaining reliability while reducing time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces manual mechanical operations with automated computational processes. The EDA tool performs algorithmic transformation of design data, substituting human manual porting operations with automated software processing that maintains design integrity faster and more reliably.
2Productivity
If automated porting tools are used, then porting time is reduced, but design kit references and connectivity may be lost
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the EDA tool validates and verifies connectivity information during the automated porting process. The system checks and maintains design kit references throughout the transformation, ensuring that automated operations do not lose critical connectivity data.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal EDA tool that handles multiple functions: geometric transformation, connectivity preservation, design kit reference maintenance, and validation. This multi-functional approach ensures that automated porting maintains all necessary design information without requiring separate specialized tools for each function.
3Ease of manufacture
If shape-level operations are performed, then layout structures can be transformed, but connections to reference design kit objects are not preserved
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the porting operation into distinct but integrated stages: geometric transformation of layout structures, preservation of connectivity information, maintenance of design kit references, and validation. This segmentation allows each function to be optimized while ensuring all aspects are addressed, preventing loss of connection information during transformation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent embeds multiple levels of information within the porting process: geometric data, connectivity information, design kit references, and validation rules are nested within each other. The EDA tool processes these nested layers systematically, ensuring that shape-level transformations do not disconnect from higher-level reference information.
4Adaptability or versatility
If existing porting tools are used, then some layout operations can be performed, but they lack cell-level capability and standardized rules
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses parameter changes to achieve technology independence. The EDA tool transforms design parameters according to standardized rules that map source technology to target technology. This parameter transformation approach provides adaptability across different technologies while managing complexity through systematic rule-based processing.
Data Source
AI summary
An embodiment of a design of one or more devices such as e.g. integrated circuits is ported from a source design technology to a target design technology by: —producing a standardized set of porting rules which translate device information related to the device or devices from the source design technology to the target design technology, and—creating a migrated design for the device or devices resulting from porting the CAD design from the source design technology to the target design technology by applying the standardized set of rules to the device information related.