Integrated circuit power net analysis through simulation
AssigneeSynopsys, Inc.
InventorsJeh-Fu Tuan, Peiqi He
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method for power net analysis of integrated circuits is provided. A circuit simulator determines current values for integrated circuit devices at specified supply voltages. A power net simulator uses the current values to calculate characteristics of the power net. The characteristics include voltage drop, current density and ground bounce. A layout representation of the power net is shown on a computer display along with the user-specified characteristics.
Claims18
In a computer system, a method of analyzing integrated circuit power nets comprising the steps of:
- inputting a circuit layout and circuit netlist of an integrated circuit, said integrated circuit including integrated circuit devices;
- with said circuit netlist, simulating operation of said integrated circuit to a series of logical input vectors at specified supply voltages;
- extracting a power net netlist from said circuit layout, said power net netlist including at least one power pad and at least one integrated circuit device connection;
- determining current at selected integrated circuit devices electrically connected to a power net specified by said power net netlist;
- with said power net netlist, simulating operation of said power net according to current at said selected integrated circuit devices to determine a characteristic of portions of said power net;
- displaying a layout representation of said power net on a display of said computer system;
- and
- displaying said characteristic of said portions of said power net on said layout representation.
In a computer system, a method of analyzing integrated circuit power nets comprising the steps of:
- inputting a power net netlist, said power net netlist including at least one power pad and at least one integrated circuit device connection;
- inputting current at integrated circuit devices electrically connected to a power net specified by said power net netlist;
- with said power net netlist, simulating operation of said power net according to current at said integrated circuit devices to determine a characteristic of portions of said power net;
- and
- displaying a layout representation of said power net on a display of said computer system, said layout representation including said characteristic of portions of said power net.
A system for analyzing power nets of an integrated circuit, comprising:
- a power net extractor, said power net extractor extracting a power net netlist for a power net from an integrated circuit layout;
- a circuit simulator coupled to said power net extractor, said circuit simulator determining current at selected integrated circuit devices of said integrated circuit electrically connected to said power net;
- a power net simulator coupled to said circuit simulator, said power net simulator determining a characteristic of portions of said power net according to current at said selected integrated circuit devices;
- and
- a display coupled to said power net simulator, said display displaying a layout representation of said power net including said characteristic of said portions of said power net.
A computer program product for analyzing power nets of an integrated circuit, comprising:
- computer code that receives a power net netlist as input, said power net netlist including at least one power pad and at least one integrated circuit device connection;
- computer code that receives current at integrated circuit devices electrically connected to a power net specified by said power net netlist as input;
- computer code that utilizes said power net netlist to simulate operation of said power net according to current at said integrated circuit devices to determine a characteristic of portions of said power net;
- computer code that displays a layout representation of said power net, said layout representation including said characteristic of portions of said power net;
- and
- a computer readable medium that stores said computer codes.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.