Measurement of Aggressor/Victim capacitive coupling impact on timing
AssigneeSynopsys, Inc.
InventorsJamil Kawa, Thu Nguyen, Shih-Yao Christine Sun
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A circuit for modeling capacitive coupling comprising a victim line to be tested, a first aggressor line, running alongside the victim line, creating a coupling capacitance between the victim line and the first aggressor line, and a sensor circuit coupled to the victim line, to detect effects of the first aggressor line on the victim line, the sensor circuit measuring timing effects in pseudo-real time.
Claims18
A circuit including capacitive coupling comprising:
- a victim line to be tested;
- a first aggressor line, running alongside the victim line, creating a coupling capacitance between the victim line and the first aggressor line;
- and
- a sensor circuit coupled to the victim line, to detect effects of the first aggressor line on the victim line, the sensor circuit measuring timing effects of the capacitive coupling in pseudo-real time and storing the measured time effects for use by an EDA system for designing circuit layout, wherein the sensor circuit is a ring oscillator, the circuit further comprising a feedback loop from an output of the ring oscillator to the victim line.
A method for capturing capacitive coupling in an integrated circuit, performed by the integrated circuit, comprising:
- measuring the output of a victim line of the integrated circuit, the integrated circuit including a plurality of lines carrying signals, the plurality of lines creating capacitive coupling between the victim line and a first aggressor line, the first aggressor line running alongside the victim line in the integrated circuit, the measuring performed through a sensor circuit coupled to the victim line, to detect timing effects of the first aggressor line on the victim line, the sensor circuit measuring the timing effects in pseudo-real time, wherein the sensor circuit is a ring oscillator, the circuit further comprising a feedback loop from an output of the ring oscillator to the victim line;
- and
- distributing the capacitive coupling along the victim line and the first aggressor line;
- and storing the measured output of the victim line so that the measured output can be use by an EDA system for designing circuit layout.
A system to characterize an impact of capacitive coupling comprising:
- a circuit including a victim line and a first aggressor line, the first aggressor line running alongside the victim line, creating a plurality of coupling capacitance factors between the victim line and the first aggressor line, and a sensor circuit coupled to the victim line, to detect effects of the first aggressor line on the victim line, the sensor circuit measuring timing effects in pseudo-real time, wherein the sensor circuit is a ring oscillator, the circuit further comprising a feedback loop from an output of the ring oscillator to the victim line;
- a memory to store the measured timing effects;
- and
- an electronic design automation (EDA) tool to utilize the measured timing effects in designing circuit layouts.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.