Adaptive power routing and shield sharing to reduce shield count

A method comprising:

• routing signal lines for a design block of an integrated circuit;
• placing shielding lines within the design block as necessary based on sensitive signal line requirements;
• and
• placing additional power lines as necessary to satisfy power grid requirements.

An article comprising a storage medium accessible by an electronic device, the storage medium to store instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• determine a priority for a placement of a set of signal lines in a gridless layout of an integrated device;
• place a most constrained signal line from the set of signal lines, wherein the placement is determined based on previously routed signal lines, previously routed power lines and/or shielding requirements;
• and
• re-determine the priority of the remaining signal lines in the set of signal lines.

An article comprising a storage medium accessible by an electronic device, the storage medium to store instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

• route signal lines for a design block of an integrated circuit;
• place shielding lines within the design block as necessary based on sensitive signal line requirements;
• and
• place additional power lines as necessary to satisfy power grid requirements.

A method comprising:

• routing signal lines and associated shield lines for an integrated circuit layout, wherein power lines are not explicitly routed prior to routing the signal lines;
• identifying one or more shield lines for use as power lines;
• and
• adding additional power lines to the layout explicitly if the shield lines identified for use as power lines do not meet predetermined power delivery requirements.

An article comprising an electronically-accessible medium to provide access to instructions that, when executed, cause the one or more processors to:

• route signal lines and associated shield lines for an integrated circuit layout, wherein power lines are not explicitly routed prior to routing the signal lines;
• identify one or more shield lines for use as power lines;
• and
• add additional power lines to the layout explicitly if the shield lines identified for use as power lines do not meet predetermined power delivery requirements.

A method comprising:

• routing signal lines with associated shield lines for an integrated circuit design block layout;
• extracting, from the routed shield lines, a power grid, if possible;
• and
• adding, explicitly, power lines to the integrated circuit design block layout to satisfy power delivery requirements explicitly if the shield lines identified for use as power lines do not meet predetermined power delivery requirements.

An article comprising an electronically-accessible medium that provides instructions that, when executed, cause one or more electronic systems to:

• route signal lines with associated shield lines for an integrated circuit design block layout;
• extract, from the routed shield lines, a power grid, if possible;
• and
• add, explicitly, power lines to the integrated circuit design block layout to satisfy power delivery requirements explicitly if the shield lines identified for use as power lines do not meet predetermined power delivery requirements.