Method and apparatus for automatically shaping traces on surface of substrate of semiconductor package by using computation

An apparatus for automatically shaping existing traces including straight and/or curved lines that are designed to be disposed in arbitrary directions on a surface of a substrate of a semiconductor package into traces each including a combination of segments in directions of “45×n” degrees (where n is an integer) with respect to a predetermined reference line comprising:

• first setting means for setting an equiangular octagon circumscribing a clearance circle indicating a position where clearance is securable from vias or obstacles, so that one side of the equiangular octagon is in parallel with said predetermined reference line;
• second setting means for setting, with respect to the existing trace having a segment passing between the vias, between the obstacles or between the via and the obstacle adjacent to each other, an equiangular octagon circumscribing a circle that is centered on a center position of the via or the obstacle existing at closest position to such segment and that is tangent to such segment, so that one side of the equiangular octagon is in parallel with said predetermined reference line;
• first correction means for correcting said existing trace in a vicinity of said via or said obstacle by obtaining segments so that the trace overlaps any side of said equiangular octagon set by said first setting means or said second setting means with respect to such via or obstacle;
• and
• second correction means for connecting two of the segments obtained when said first correction means corrects said existing trace based on equiangular octagons adjacent to each other substantially in a disposing direction of said existing trace by each segment in a direction of “45×n” degrees (where n is an integer) with respect to said predetermined reference line,
• wherein the trace including a combination of said two segments obtained by said first correction means and said segment in the direction of “45×n” degrees (where n is an integer) obtained by said second correction means is determined as the trace after the correction.