# US 7,610,565 B2 · Technology migration for integrated circuits with radical design restrictions

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- Number: US 7,610,565 B2
- Document ID: US7610565B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 11/697,798
- Filed: 2007-04-09
- Published: 2007-08-23
- Granted: 2009-10-27
- Earliest claimed: 2004-10-29
- Assignees: International Business Machines Corporation
- Inventors: Robert J. Allen; Cam V. Endicott; Fook-Luen Heng; Jason D. Hibbeler; Kevin W. McCullen; Rani Narayan; Robert F. Walker; Xin Yuan
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US7610565B2

## CPC

- G06F 30/394: Routing (G06F30/396 takes precedence)
- G06F 30/39: Circuit design at the physical level (physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347)
- G06F: ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING (computer systems based on specific computational models G06N)

## Abstract

A method, system and program product for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, are disclosed. Also, a method, system and program product for migrating an integrated circuit design from a source technology without RDR to a target technology with RDR in which space may be reserved for late insertion of a feature and in which migration first occurs in a primary compaction direction having less tolerant ground rules.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A method, performed on a computer system, for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design layout from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, the method comprising:
using the computer system to perform the following:
inserting a designator shape within the design layout prior to migration to reserve space for a feature; and
migrating the design layout from the source technology without RDR to the target technology with RDR while reserving space for the feature according to the designator shape, wherein the target technology with RDR comprises a fully gridded layout that constrains critical dimensions to lie in one orientation and at integer multiples of a contacted device pitch, wherein the RDR requires a limited number of narrow line widths, a single orientation of narrow features, narrow features placed on a uniform and coarse pitch, a uniform proximity environment for all critical gates and a limited number of pitches for critical gates;
legalizing the design layout to meet an RDR grid constraint and fix any ground rule violation in a first direction;
inserting required dummy shapes; and
running a minimum perturbation analysis in order address an edge coverage requirement of at least one critical shape and fix any ground rule violation in a second direction.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, wherein the designator shape includes instructions for the migrating step about how the designator shape changes the design layout adjacent to the designator shape.

### Claim 3 (depends on 2)

The method of claim 2, wherein the instructions include at least one instruction regarding splitting a diffusion, adding space between features, and an amount of space to be reserved for the feature.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of inserting the feature into the reserved space.

### Claim 5

A system for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design layout from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, the system comprising:
means for inserting a designator shape within the design layout prior to migration to reserve space for a feature; and
means for migrating the design layout from the source technology without RDR to the target technology with RDR while reserving space for the feature according to the designator shape, wherein the target technology with RDR comprises a fully gridded layout that constrains critical dimensions to lie in one orientation and at integer multiples of a contacted device pitch, wherein the RDR requires a limited number of narrow line widths, a single orientation of narrow features, narrow features placed on a uniform and coarse pitch, a uniform proximity environment for all critical gates and a limited number of pitches for critical gates;
means for legalizing the design layout to meet an RDR grid constraint and fix any ground rule violation in a first direction;
means for inserting required dummy shapes; and
means for running a minimum perturbation analysis in order to address an edge coverage requirement of at least one critical shape and fix any ground rule violation in a second direction.

### Claim 6 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, wherein the designator shape includes instructions for the migrating means about how the designator shape changes the design layout adjacent to the designator shape.

### Claim 7 (depends on 6)

The system of claim 6, wherein the instructions include at least one instruction regarding splitting a diffusion, adding space between features, and an amount of space to be reserved for the feature.

### Claim 8 (depends on 5)

The system of claim 5, further comprising means for inserting the feature into the reserved space.

### Claim 9

A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design layout from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, the program product comprising:
program code configured to insert a designator shape within the design layout prior to migration to reserve space for a feature; and
program code configured to migrate the design layout from the source technology without RDR to the target technology with RDR while reserving space for the feature according to the designator shape, wherein the target technology with RDR comprises a fully gridded layout that constrains critical dimensions to lie in one orientation and at integer multiples of a contacted device pitch, wherein the RDR requires a limited number of narrow line widths, a single orientation of narrow features, narrow features placed on a uniform and coarse pitch, a uniform proximity environment for all critical gates and a limited number of pitches for critical gates;
program code configured to legalizing the design layout to meet an RDR grid constraint and fix any ground rule violation in a first direction;
program code configured to inserting required dummy shapes; and
program code configured to running a minimum perturbation analysis in order to address an edge coverage requirement of at least one critical shape and fix any ground rule violation in a second direction.

### Claim 10 (depends on 9)

The program product of claim 9, wherein the designator shape includes instructions for the migrating code about how the designator shape changes the design layout adjacent to the designator shape.

### Claim 11 (depends on 10)

The program product of claim 10, wherein the instructions include at least one instruction regarding splitting a diffusion, adding space between features, and an amount of space to be reserved for the feature.

### Claim 12 (depends on 9)

The program product of claim 9, further comprising program code configured to insert the feature into the reserved space.

### Claim 13

A method, performed on a computer system, for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design layout from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, the method comprising:
using the computer system to perform the following:
prioritizing a first direction and a second direction for compaction into a primary compaction direction based on which of the first and second directions has less tolerant ground rules and a secondary compaction direction based on the direction having more tolerant ground rules; and
migrating the design layout from the source technology without RDR to the target technology with RDR in the primary compaction direction using the less tolerant ground rules, wherein the target technology with RDR comprises a fully gridded layout that constrains critical dimensions to lie in one orientation and at integer multiples of a contacted device pitch, wherein the RDR requires a limited number of narrow line widths, a single orientation of narrow features, narrow features placed on a uniform and coarse pitch, a uniform proximity environment for all critical gates and a limited number of pitches for critical gates;
legalizing the design layout to meet an RDR grid constraint and fix any ground rule violation in the primary compaction direction;
inserting required dummy shapes; and
running a minimum perturbation analysis in order to address an edge coverage requirement of a least one critical shape and fix any ground rule violation in the secondary compaction direction.

### Claim 14

A system for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design layout from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, the system comprising:
means for prioritizing a first direction and a second direction for compaction into a primary compaction direction based on which of the first and second directions has less tolerant ground rules and a secondary compaction direction based on the direction having more tolerant ground rules; and
means for migrating the design layout from the source technology without RDR to the target technology with RDR in the primary compaction direction, wherein the target technology with RDR comprises a fully gridded layout that constrains critical dimensions to lie in one orientation and at integer multiples of a contacted device pitch, wherein the RDR requires a limited number of narrow line widths, a single orientation of narrow features, narrow features placed on a uniform and coarse pitch, a uniform proximity environment for all critical gates and a limited number of pitches for critical gates;
means for legalizing the design layout to meet an RDR grid constraint and fix any ground rule violation in the primary compaction direction;
means for inserting required dummy shapes; and
means for running a minimum perturbation analysis in order to address an edge coverage requirement of at least one critical shape and fix any ground rule violation in the secondary compaction direction.

### Claim 15

A computer program product comprising a computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for migrating an integrated circuit (IC) design layout from a source technology without radical design restrictions (RDR) to a target technology with RDR, the program product comprising:
program code configured to prioritize a first direction and a second direction for compaction into a primary compaction direction based on which of the first and second directions has less tolerant ground rules and a secondary compaction direction based on the direction having more tolerant ground rules; and
program code configured to migrate the design layout from the source technology without RDR to the target technology with RDR in the primary compaction direction, wherein the target technology with RDR comprises a fully gridded layout that constrains critical dimensions to lie in one orientation and at integer multiples of a contacted device pitch, wherein the RDR requires a limited number of narrow line widths, a single orientation of narrow features, narrow features placed on a uniform and coarse pitch, a uniform proximity environment for all critical gates and a limited number of pitches for critical gates;
program code configured to legalize the design layout to meet an RDR grid constraint and fix any ground rule violation in the primary compaction direction;
program code configured to inserting required dummy shapes; and
program code configured to run a minimum perturbation analysis in order to address an edge coverage requirement of at least one critical shape and fix any ground rule violation in the secondary compaction direction.