Integrated circuit design method
AssigneeKoninklijke Philips Electronics N.V.
InventorBernardo De Oliveira Kastrup Pereira
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A design method for designing an integrated circuit (IC) and a corresponding integrated circuit design tool are presented. An IC design having a plurality of building blocks (121-129) being interconnected by a plurality of interconnection wires (131-139) is represented by a two-dimensional representation (200) mimicking the positions of the building blocks (121-129) and interconnections (131-139) in the actual IC lay-out. The two-dimensional representation allows the IC designer to evaluate the lengths of the interconnection wires (131-139), which enables the IC designer to alter the IC design before the IC design back-end, e.g. the IC area optimization, is entered, thus leading to a more effective IC design method.
Claims8
A method for designing an integrated circuit, the method comprising:
- a first step of selecting a plurality of building blocks for mapping a desired algorithmic functionality onto an integrated circuit design;
- a second step of making a connection between a first and a second building block from the plurality of building blocks to enable communication between the first and the second building block;
- and
- a step of displaying the integrated circuit design resulting from the execution of the first step and the second step,
- characterized in that the method further comprises a step of providing interconnect information about a length of the interconnection between the first and the second building block.
An integrated circuit design tool, the tool comprising:
- first means for selecting a plurality of building blocks for mapping a desired algorithmic functionality onto an integrated circuit design;
- second means for making a connection between a first and a second building block from the plurality of building blocks to enable communication between the first and the second building block;
- and
- display means for displaying the integrated circuit design resulting from the first means and the second means,
- characterized in that the design tool further comprises means for providing interconnect information about a length of the interconnection between the first and the second building block.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.