Assignment of cell coordinates

A method for reducing noise and congestion for substrate components on a substrate surface during a substrate component placement procedure for an application-specific integrated circuit, the method comprising the steps of:

• a) providing a grid covering the surface of the substrate defining old x and y coordinates of a cell and an old cell origin point for each cell to be placed on the substrate surface,
• b) shifting all old cell origin points to a center of its corresponding cell,
• c) flipping or rotating the cells to provide new cell origin points,
• d) determining an approximate density map of the substrate surface based on the new cell origin points,
• e) selecting new x and y cell coordinates of the cells at the new cell origin points,
• f) optimizing the new x and y cell coordinates, and
• g) determining an actual density map of the substrate surface based on the cell placement after optimization thereof.

A computing device for optimizing design of a semiconductor substrate layout comprising:

• a memory for storing process steps including the steps of,
• a) defining a grid covering a substrate surface,
• b) assigning cells to the grid to provide old x and y coordinates of the cells relative to the grid,
• c) grouping the cells by function to provide functional regions within the grid,
• d) determining a density map of the surface of the substrate in all the functional regions within the grid,
• e) determining free space of the grid on the surface of the substrate relative to the density map, and
• f) assigning new cells to the free space of the grid on the substrate surface to provide an application specific integrated circuit, by
• i) assigning an origin point in the free space on the grid to a new cell,
• ii) inspecting the origin point to determine if enough free space exists at the origin point to place the new cell, and
• iii) when there is not enough free space at the origin point to place the new cell, then inspecting adjacent points on the grid in an outwardly spiraling pattern until a point on the grid within the free space is located at which the new cell will fit, and
• a processor for manipulating data provided for the process steps in order to define an optimum substrate layout based substrate density considerations.

A physical media readable by a computerized system comprising a computer program for layout design and configuration of a semiconductor substrate, the program including the steps of:

• a) defining a grid covering a substrate surface,
• b) assigning cells to the grid to provide old x and y coordinates of the cells relative to the grid,
• c) grouping the cells by function to provide functional regions within the grid,
• d) determining a density map of the surface of the substrate in all the functional regions within the grid,
• e) determining free space of the grid on the surface of the substrate relative to the density map, and
• f) assigning new cells to the free space of the grid on the substrate surface to provide an application specific integrated circuit, by
• i) assigning an origin point in the free space on the grid to a new cell,
• ii) inspecting the origin point to determine if enough free space exists at the origin point to place the new cell, and
• iii) when there is not enough free space at the origin point to place the new cell, then inspecting adjacent points on the grid in an outwardly spiraling pattern until a point on the grid within the free space is located at which the new cell will fit.