Integrated circuit (ic) design method, system and program product

A method of integrated circuit (IC) design comprising the steps of:

• a) inputting a circuit design, at least one circuit in said circuit design being identified as a special case cell, each said special case cell including an external representation and an internal representation, each said internal representation being in compliance with design rules;
• b) checking each said external representation of said each special case cell for compliance with external cell representation rules;
• c) modifying said circuit design for any identified violations for external cell representation rules;
• and
• d) analyzing said circuit design for compliance with stated design goals, each said external representation of said each special case cell being used for design goal analysis.

A design system for integrated circuit (IC) design, said design system comprising:

• storage media;
• a design library in said storage media, said design library including a plurality of circuit books, each of said circuit books including a design for an IC building block;
• and
• at least one special case cell in said design library, each said special case cell including an external representation and an internal representation, wherein each said external representation is checkable for compliance with external cell representation rules with other circuit books and for IC design compliance with stated design goals, each said internal representation being in compliance with design rules.

A computer program product for integrated circuit (IC) design, said computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer readable program code stored thereon, said computer readable program code comprising:

• design library computer readable program code means for providing each of a plurality of standard circuit books, each of said standard circuit books including a design for an IC building block;
• and
• computer readable program code means for providing one or more special case cells, each special case cell comprising:
• computer readable program code means for providing an external representation checkable for compliance with external cell representation rules with other special case cells and said standard circuit books, and
• computer readable program code means for providing an internal representation in compliance with stated design goals.