Auto-creation of Custom Standard Cells for IC Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
The design and fabrication of integrated circuits, particularly application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and system-on-chip (SoC) devices, are complex and inefficient due to the lack of standard cell libraries covering all necessary functionalities, leading to challenges in identifying required cells and optimizing transistor count, area, and power consumption.
Innovation Solution
A system that evaluates input designs to identify required cells not in the standard cell library, automatically creates these cells, and recommends their implementation, including graphical user interface (GUI) visualization of new cell characteristics such as transistor count and power requirements, allowing for their addition to the standard cell library or storage in a separate library for use in integrated circuit fabrication.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If a preexisting standard cell library is used, then design process is simplified and cells can be readily placed and routed, but the library may not cover certain functionalities required by the design and cells may require more transistors and area
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary analysis of the input design to identify required cells before the design process begins. By pre-evaluating which cells are needed and checking their availability in the standard library, the system prepares customization recommendations in advance, avoiding delays during actual design implementation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables the design process to be self-sufficient by automatically identifying missing functionalities and generating custom cell configurations without requiring manual intervention from designers. The automated cell creation and integration process allows the design system to service its own needs for specialized cells.
2Adaptability or versatility
If custom cells are manually designed to perform specific functions, then functionality requirements are met, but design and development time increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system replaces the manual mechanical process of cell design with an automated computational system. Instead of designers manually creating custom cells, the system uses automated analysis, evaluation, and generation processes to create optimized cell configurations, dramatically reducing the time required while maintaining design quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an intermediary automated evaluation process between the design requirements and cell implementation. This intermediary system analyzes the input design, identifies needed functionalities, evaluates standard library coverage, and generates custom cell recommendations, serving as a mediator that bridges the gap without requiring manual design intervention.
3Productivity
If standard cells from a preexisting library are used, then design process is faster, but the cells may not be optimized for specific functions resulting in more transistors and greater area
Solution Approach 1:
The system applies local quality optimization by creating custom cells tailored to specific functional requirements rather than using generic standard cells. Each custom cell is optimized for its particular function, resulting in fewer transistors and smaller area for that specific function while maintaining overall design speed through automation.
Solution Approach 2:
The system changes key parameters of cell design by generating custom configurations optimized for specific functions. By adjusting transistor count, area, and other design parameters to match exact functional requirements, the system achieves better optimization than fixed standard cells while maintaining rapid design throughput through automated generation.
Data Source
AI summary
The technology involves the auto-creation of custom standard cells. The process may include receiving specifications for implementing a set of functionalities in an integrated circuit to be fabricated. From this, the system identifies which cells are required to implement the set of functionalities. The identified cells are evaluated against a standard cell library stored in memory to determine which of the cells are not in the standard cell library. The system automatically creates the cells that are not in the standard cell library. The system can then utilize the automatically created cells to fabricate the integrated circuit. Benefits of such an approach include reduced design, development time and improved design quality of results. The resulting new cells may have fewer transistors, less area/power and improved performance than a standard cell from a preexisting library, especially since such standard cells would not necessarily be configurable to perform the desired functions.