Thermal driven placement
OwnerJohn Valainis, Robert Mark Sumner +1inventors
InventorsJohn Valainis, Robert Mark Sumner, Jing Chen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method for thermal driven placement begins by first computing thermal response functions for individual components for several locations on a placement surface as a preprocessing step to placement. The thermal response functions can then be used to compute junction temperatures of components quickly and accurately during placement of the components in a layout. For a given component location, the component's junction temperature is computed by summing the contributions of neighboring components with the component's own contribution. The difference between predefined junction temperatures for the components and the calculated junction temperatures can then be used to assess the merits of the placement.
Claims20
A method for thermal driven placement in a programmed computer system, the method comprising:
- separately computing thermal response function data for each component in a group of components for a plurality of locations on a placement surface;
- and
- placing the group of components on the placement surface in a first placement;
- computing a thermal contribution from a second component on a first component by finding a temperature value from the thermal response function data of the second component corresponding to a location of the first component;
- summing the temperature value from the thermal response function data of the second component with a temperature value of the first component to compute a calculated junction temperature of the first component;
- and
- comparing the calculated junction temperature with a predefined junction temperature to analyze whether the first placement satisfies a predefined thermal design constraint.
A method for thermal driven placement in a programmed computer system, the method comprising:
- separately computing temperature distribution data for each component in a group of components for a plurality of locations on a placement surface;
- storing the temperature distribution data comprising temperature values and corresponding location data in memory of a programmed computer system;
- placing components on the placement surface including:
- for a first placement, computing a junction temperature of a component in the group by finding temperature values in the temperature distribution data for other components that correspond to the location of the component, and summing the temperature values to find the contribution of the other components to the junction temperature;
- comparing the junction temperature with a maximum junction temperature to analyze whether the first placement satisfies a thermal design constraint.
A computer-readable medium on which is stored at least one computer program for supporting thermal driven placement, said at least one computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a computer, perform the steps of:
- separately computing thermal response function data for each component in a group of components for a plurality of locations on a placement surface;
- and
- placing the group of components on the placement surface in a first placement;
- computing the thermal contribution from a second component on a first component by finding a temperature value from the thermal response function data of the second component corresponding to a location of the first component;
- summing the temperature value from the thermal response function data of the second component with a temperature value of the first component to compute a calculated junction temperature;
- and
- comparing the calculated junction temperature with a predefined junction temperature to analyze whether the first placement satisfies a predefined thermal design constraint.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.