Integrated circuit approach, with a serpentine conductor track for circuit configuration selection

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• a stack of a plurality of conductor layers, the stack including a first conductor layer and a second conductive layer;
• a first circuit having a first node and a second node;
• a second circuit having a first node and a second node;
• a first plurality of vias interconnecting conductors on a plurality of different conductor layers, the first plurality of interconnecting conductors coupled to the first node of the first circuit;
• a second plurality of vias interconnecting conductors on the plurality of different conductor layers, the second plurality of interconnecting conductors coupled to the second node of the second circuit;
• and
• a serpentine conductor track having (i) a first end in the first conductor layer, (ii) a second end in the second conductor layer, the serpentine conductor track forming a continuous electrical path extending serially from the first end to the second end through the different conductor layers, and (iii) couplings between the different conductor layers, the couplings being alternately lateral offset from each along the extent of the serpentine track through conductor layers.

An integrated circuit, comprising:

• a first conductor layer;
• a second conductor layer;
• a first circuit element;
• a second circuit element;
• at least one serpentine conductor track;
• and
• one of the serpentine conductor track forming a continuous electrical path between the first circuit element and the second circuit element, and the serpentine conductor track having a discontinuity in at least one of the conductor layers such that the first and second circuit elements are not coupled to each other and the integrated circuit further including a bridging conductor track in the same conductor layer as said discontinuity, which bridging track couples said serpentine conductor track to bypass one of said first and second circuit elements.

A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit, comprising:

• forming a stack of conductor layers including first, inner and second conductors with conductors respectively on each of the first, inner and second conductors, providing a region for forming a bridging conductor track located in the inner layer and connecting the serpentine conductor track to bypass one of a plurality of circuit elements;
• forming a serpentine conductor track to interconnect a plurality of circuit elements in the integrated circuit, the serpentine conductor track including the first, inner and second conductors respectively along first, inner and second conductor layers of the stack of conductor layers;
• wherein forming the serpentine conductor track includes forming the inner conductor to include a lateral segment that can be severed to provide a discontinuity in the serpentine conductor track and to thereby provide an altered configuration of the integrated circuit;
• and
• providing an integrated circuit configuration by selecting at least one of:
• (i) severing the lateral segment and thereby providing the discontinuity in the serpentine conductor track;
• and (ii) forming the bridging conductor track at the region of the inner layer and thereby connecting the serpentine conductor track to bypass one of the circuit elements.

A method for manufacturing an integrated circuit, comprising:

• using a stack of conductor layers, forming a serpentine conductor track to interconnect a plurality of circuit elements, the serpentine conductor track including first, inner and second conductors respectively along first, inner and second conductor layers of the stack of conductor layers;
• forming a discontinuity in the inner conductor;
• and
• forming a bridging conductor track located in the inner layer and arranged to connect the serpentine conductor track to bypass one of the circuit elements.