PSDL Power Ground Routing Structure Alignment
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current power and ground network generation in integrated circuits is complex, manual, and prone to alignment issues due to track misalignment between layers, requiring extensive trial-and-error for offset and distance adjustments, and is not easily transferable between designs.
Innovation Solution
A pattern-based formal description language (PSDL) is introduced to describe power/ground routing structures, allowing users to define desired patterns and their layout across layers, enabling early optimization, flexible alignment, and easy transferability between designs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If manual layer-by-layer power and ground network generation is used, then the process allows detailed control over each layer, but the complexity increases significantly and extensive trial-and-error is required for alignment
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses template-based patterns that can be copied and reused across multiple layers. Instead of manually designing each layer independently, designers create reusable power and ground network patterns once and automatically instantiate them across layers, eliminating repetitive manual work while maintaining alignment precision through the template copying mechanism
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the power and ground network design into independent reusable patterns for different layers. Each layer's power/ground structure is divided into discrete pattern units that can be independently designed, stored as templates, and then automatically assembled, reducing the overall design complexity while preserving detailed control
2Productivity
If sequential command line execution is used for power and ground generation, then the process follows a structured approach, but the runtime and quality depend heavily on the generation order
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by pre-defining power and ground network patterns with all necessary alignment parameters and constraints before actual generation. The templates include pre-calculated offset and distance values, so when instantiation occurs, the correct generation order and parameters are automatically applied without requiring sequential trial-and-error adjustments
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces dynamic adaptability by allowing the generation process to automatically adjust based on the specific design context. The pattern matching and instantiation system dynamically determines the optimal generation sequence and parameters for each layer based on the actual layout requirements, rather than following a fixed sequential order
3Manufacturing precision
If design-specific scripts are used for power and ground structure generation, then the structures can be optimized for that specific design, but transferring the structure to another design becomes exceedingly difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent creates universal power and ground network patterns that can be applied across multiple designs and technology nodes. The template-based approach with parameterized dimensions and spacing allows the same pattern library to serve multiple design purposes, maintaining optimization quality while enabling easy transferability through simple parameter adjustment rather than complete script rewriting
Data Source
AI summary
An approach includes a new power and ground structure description language (PSDL) will allow the user to describe the desired routing pattern for each layer and on a user defined region by region basis, including how the pattern will be laid out in the design with respect to other patterns from a different layer. The new PSDL also gives the complete picture of the entire power and ground structure, instead of just a layer-by-layer view from a single command. It also allowed flexibility in alignment especially when dealing with track misalignments, thus avoiding the extensive trial-and-error steps needed to calculate offsets and distances to maintain pattern alignment using previous approaches. Additionally, because PSDL is not tightly dependent on the design size and/or floorplan, transferring the desired power and ground structure from one design to another will be very easy with only few adjustments.