Electro-Migration Aware Circuit Design with Parasitic Extraction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electronic circuit design methodologies lack electro-migration awareness, leading to difficulties in predicting and addressing wear-out issues in interconnects due to current densities, especially in deep sub-micron integrated circuits, where decisions about circuit components are made early in the design cycle with incomplete information, resulting in costly iterative design processes and potential functional failures.
Innovation Solution
A method and system for implementing electronic circuit designs with electro-migration awareness by identifying and characterizing electrical parasitics and device parameters early in the design stage, allowing for real-time adjustment of physical data to ensure compliance with electro-migration related constraints, using partial layouts and parasitic extraction techniques to simulate and verify current densities and voltages.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If electro-migration awareness is integrated into early design stages, then interconnect reliability is improved, but design complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs electro-migration analysis and parasitic extraction at early design stages (schematic capture and placement phases) rather than waiting for layout completion. This preliminary action allows designers to identify and correct electro-migration issues before finalizing the physical design, improving interconnect reliability without requiring complete layout information.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary electro-migration analysis engine that works with partial design information (schematic netlists, placement data) to predict current densities and identify potential failures. This intermediary tool bridges the gap between early design decisions and late-stage reliability verification, enabling proactive reliability management.
2Loss of time
If electro-migration analysis is performed early in design, then design iteration costs are reduced, but computational resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs parasitic extraction and electro-migration analysis on partial designs (schematic level, placement level) rather than waiting for complete layout. This partial action enables early identification of critical issues that would require expensive iterative redesign, reducing overall design iteration time and computational waste.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses simplified models and approximate calculations for early-stage electro-migration analysis, then refines the analysis with more accurate models as design data becomes available. This parameter change approach balances computational resource usage across different design stages, performing sufficient analysis early without excessive computational overhead.
3Reliability
If current density limits are enforced strictly, then electro-migration failures are prevented, but design flexibility is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent identifies specific interconnect segments with high current density risks and applies targeted analysis and mitigation strategies only to those locations. Rather than enforcing uniform current density limits across the entire design, the system focuses computational resources and design attention on critical areas, maintaining reliability while preserving design flexibility in non-critical regions.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent provides feedback to designers about electro-migration risks in specific interconnect segments, allowing informed decision-making. The system presents current density violations and suggests corrective actions, enabling designers to balance reliability requirements with design flexibility based on the specific context and risk level of each interconnect.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed are methods, systems, and articles of manufacture for implementing electronic circuit designs with electro-migration awareness. Some embodiments perform schematic level simulation(s) to determine electrical characteristics, identifies physical parasitics of a layout component, determines the electrical or physical characteristics associated to electro-migration analysis on the component, and determines whether the component meets EM related constraint(s) while implementing the physical design of the electronic circuit in some embodiments. Some embodiments further determine adjustment(s) to the component or related data where the EM related constraints are not met and/or and present the adjustment(s) in the form of hints. Various data and information, such as currents in various forms or voltages, are passed between various schematic level tools and physical level tools.