IC Design Slices with Bidirectional Links for Runtime Optimization
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current IC design tools lack efficient methods to represent and maintain information about wide-gates and wide-buses throughout the IC design flow, leading to suboptimal performance and quality of results due to the inability to explicitly retain the logical and physical relationships between multi-input operations and multi-bit data units.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of bidirectional links between wide-gate/wide-bus constructs and their instances allows for the preservation of logical and physical similarity, enabling efficient access and replication of slice instances, and the use of new constructs to represent wide-gates and wide-buses across multiple stages of the IC design flow.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional IC design tools are used without slice identification and bidirectional links, then the design flow can proceed, but the runtime and quality of results deteriorate due to inability to efficiently access and replicate slice instances
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the IC design into reusable slice units that can be independently identified, stored, and replicated. By dividing the design into modular slices with bidirectional links to their instances, the system enables efficient access and manipulation of individual slice instances without processing the entire design, thereby reducing runtime while preserving design relationships.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a copying mechanism where a single slice definition can be replicated to create multiple slice instances throughout the design. The bidirectional links enable efficient copying and instantiation of slices, allowing the design system to reference and replicate slice instances without manually recreating them, thus improving productivity while maintaining logical relationships.
2Adaptability or versatility
If slice instances are implemented independently without bidirectional links, then implementation flexibility is improved, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to inability to preserve logical and physical similarity among slice instances
Solution Approach 1:
The bidirectional links create a feedback mechanism between slice definitions and their instances. Changes to the master slice definition are automatically reflected in all instances, ensuring uniformity and regularity. This feedback loop maintains manufacturing precision by ensuring all slice instances remain consistent with the original design intent while still allowing independent implementation flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The slice construct serves multiple functions: it acts as a reusable template, a design specification, and a reference for multiple instances. The universal slice definition can be instantiated multiple times with different parameters while maintaining core logical and physical similarity, thus providing both adaptability and precision simultaneously.
3Reliability
If bidirectional links are created between slices and slice instances, then access efficiency and quality of results are improved, but device complexity increases due to additional data structures and relationships
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a nested data structure where slice instances contain references to their parent slice definition, and the slice definition contains references to its instances. This nested organization allows the system to manage complexity by hierarchical containment, where the bidirectional links are embedded within the existing data structures rather than adding external complexity, thus improving reliability without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques are described for designing an integrated circuit (IC). Some embodiments identify and preserve slices by using new objects in an IC design data model. One or more IC design representations that are used in an IC design flow may natively support such slice objects. These new objects can enable rapid access and preservation of slices, thereby improving the runtime and/or quality of results (QoR) of an IC design system.