Using a reduced cell library for preliminary synthesis to evaluate design
AssigneeAdvanced Micro Devices, Inc.
InventorsRichard L. Ratzel, John F. Croix, Stephen R. King
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reduced cell library includes substantially fewer cells than a complete cell library used to finalize the integrated circuit design. More particularly, each cell in the reduced cell library may be characterized by a first drive strength which is the same for each cell in the library. The reduced cell library can be used to evaluate the RTL description of an integrated circuit without incurring long synthesis delays. Large problems in the RTL description (with respect to one or more design goals) may be detected, and the RTL description may be modified to correct the problems.
Claims26
A method comprising:
- generating a reduced cell library, wherein each cell of said reduced cell library is characterized by a first drive strength, and wherein said first drive strength of said cell is the same as said first drive strength for each other cell within said reduced cell library;
- and
- synthesizing an RTL representation of an integrated circuit using cells defined only within said reduced cell library.
A computer storage medium configured to store:
- a reduced cell library generation tool configured to generate a reduced cell library, wherein each cell of said reduced cell library is characterized by a first drive strength, and wherein said first drive strength of said each cell is the same as said first drive strength for each other cell within said reduced cell library;
- and
- a synthesis tool configured to synthesize an RTL representation of an integrated circuit using said reduced cell library.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.