Standard Cell Conformance via Boolean Assertions
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current standard cell design tools, such as Synopsys' Custom Designer and Cadence's Virtuoso, require manual placement of polygons and rely on complex design rules, which are inefficient for verifying manufacturability and often allow numerous patterns that cannot be verified for production.
Innovation Solution
A template-based approach using a 'templatyzer' tool that applies a 'golden library' of standard cells to conform cell shapes to a template, minimizing the number of patterns to verify by using Boolean expressions and adjustment neighborhoods to iteratively match valid patterns.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If manual polygon placement and complex design rules are used, then design flexibility is maintained, but verification efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts and eliminates the complex design rules from the verification process by using a template-based approach. Instead of relying on elaborate rule sets, the system uses predefined templates that inherently encode the necessary design constraints, thereby simplifying the verification process and improving efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs template copying where valid cell designs are replicated from a library of pre-verified templates. The system copies and adapts proven design patterns rather than creating new designs from scratch, which automatically ensures manufacturability and reduces verification complexity.
2Device complexity
If template-based approach is used, then verification complexity is reduced, but design adaptability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic adaptation mechanisms that allow the template-based system to flexibly accommodate different design requirements. The system can dynamically adjust and modify templates based on specific design needs while maintaining the core benefits of template-based verification, thereby resolving the contradiction between simplicity and adaptability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by allowing selective customization of specific template elements while maintaining the overall template structure. This enables designers to adapt individual aspects of cell designs without compromising the verified integrity of the overall structure, thus preserving both verification simplicity and design adaptability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If numerous patterns are allowed, then design flexibility is improved, but manufacturability verification deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by pre-verifying and pre-qualifying all possible cell designs against manufacturability constraints before they are used in the actual design process. The templates are prepared in advance with all necessary verifications already performed, so that when designers use these templates, they automatically inherit the verified manufacturability without needing to perform additional verification.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed techniques conform standard cells in an integrated circuit design into a valid template pattern using a template-based approach to standard cell design. The template architecture stores valid patterns of circuit elements for the design. A Boolean expression comprising an aggregated set of Boolean assertions can be generated for each different combination of cell shape features and edge locations with the cell design to compute a solution that matches with a valid pattern in one of the templates. If the solution evaluates to a Boolean TRUE result, the cell shape(s) can be modified in accordance with the solution. If not, the granularity can be updated by incrementing an “adjustment neighborhood” value and iterating the computations for shape features and edge locations using the updated values for the analysis until a Boolean TRUE result is found or it is determined there is no solution for the set of expressions.