Hierarchical color decomposition of library cells with boundary-aware color selection

A system comprising a memory having computer readable instructions and one or more processors for executing the computer readable instructions, the computer readable instructions controlling the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• placing a plurality of shapes within a hierarchical level of a chip design having two or more edge cells and one or more internal cells, the plurality of shapes comprising a top boundary shape common to at least two cells of the two or more edge cells and the one or more internal cells, a bottom boundary shape common to the at least two cells of the two or more edge cells and the one or more internal cells, one or more center boundary shapes, and one or more internal shapes, the one or more center boundary shapes positioned at boundaries of the two or more edge cells and internal cells midway between the top boundary shape and the bottom boundary shape;
• pinning the top boundary shape to a first mask;
• pinning the bottom boundary shape to a second mask;
• and
• pinning the one or more center boundary shapes to a same mask, wherein the same mask is selected from one of the first mask and the second mask.

A computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

• placing a plurality of shapes within a hierarchical level of a chip design having two or more edge cells and one or more internal cells, the plurality of shapes comprising a top boundary shape common to at least two cells of the two or more edge cells and the one or more internal cells, a bottom boundary shape common to the at least two cells of the two or more edge cells and the one or more internal cells, one or more center boundary shapes, and one or more internal shapes, the one or more center boundary shapes positioned at boundaries of the two or more edge cells and internal cells midway between the top boundary shape and the bottom boundary shape;
• pinning the top boundary shape to a first mask;
• pinning the bottom boundary shape to a second mask;
• and
• pinning the one or more center boundary shapes to a same mask, wherein the same mask is selected from one of the first mask and the second mask.