Support method and design support apparatus

A design support method for causing a computer accessible to layout data for providing a layout in which macro cells are arranged and in which power supply wirings are formed at certain intervals in each wiring layer to execute, the design support method comprising:

• specifying a wiring layer to be connected to each of the macro cells included in the layout represented by the layout data;
• extracting a macro cell from among the macro cells included in the layout represented by the layout data, the macro cell being a macro cell where no power supply wiring of a wiring layer specified in the specifying step to be connected to the macro cell is formed in a projection area located above the macro cell, the specifying step being for specifying a wiring layer to be connected to each of the macro cells;
• detecting a set of power supply wirings between which the extracted macro cell is located from among power supply wirings of the wiring layer specified to be connected to the macro cell;
• and
• outputting a detection result obtained in the detecting step, the detecting step being for detecting a set of power supply wirings between which the extracted macro cell is located from among power supply wirings.

A design support apparatus comprising:

• extractor for extracting a set of adjacent macro cells from layout data for providing a layout in which macro cells are arranged and in which power supply wirings are formed at certain intervals in each wiring layer;
• specifying unit for specifying a region located between macro cells that constitute the set of adjacent macro cells extracted by the extractor from among row regions included in the layout represented by the layout data;
• detecting unit for detecting a power supply wiring of a specific wiring layer in a projection area located above the region specified by the specifying unit, the specific wiring layer being higher than a bottom layer of the layout represented by the layout data;
• and
• output unit for outputting a region where no power supply wiring of the specific wiring layer is detected by the detecting unit.

A design support apparatus comprising:

• specifying unit for specifying a wiring layer to be connected to each of macro cells included in layout data for providing a layout in which macro cells are arranged and in which power supply wirings are formed at certain intervals in each wiring layer;
• extracting unit for extracting a macro cell from among the macro cells included in the layout data, the macro cell being a macro cell where no power supply wiring of a wiring layer specified by the specifying means to be connected to the macro cell is formed in a projection area located above the macro cell;
• detecting unit for detecting a set of power supply wirings between which the extracted macro cell is located from among power supply wirings of the wiring layer specified to be connected to the macro cell;
• and
• output unit for outputting a detection result obtained by the detecting unit.