System and method of electromigration avoidance for automatic place-and-route
AssigneeTaiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.
InventorsJerry Kao, King-Ho Tam, Meng-Xiang Lee, Li-Chung Hsu, Chi-Yeh Yu, Chung-Min Fu, Chung-Hsing Wang
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method includes identifying at least one local power segment of a circuit, estimating at least one performance parameter of the at least one power segment based on a computer-based simulation of the circuit, and changing a design of the circuit based on at least one electromigration avoidance strategy if the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value. A data file representing the circuit is stored if the at least one parameter is less than the threshold value.
Claims20
A method, comprising:
- identifying at least one local power segment of a circuit;
- dividing an area occupied by devices supplied by the at least one local power segment into a plurality of cells, wherein each cell has a respective power consumption and a respective area that is based on the respective power consumption such that the power consumptions of each of the plurality of cells are approximately equal;
- estimating at least one performance parameter of the at least one local power segment based on a computer-based simulation of the circuit;
- making a design change in the circuit based on at least one electromigration avoidance strategy if the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value, wherein the design change affects at least one cell of the plurality of cells;
- and
- storing a data file representing the circuit if the at least one parameter is less than the threshold value.
A system, comprising:
- a non-transitory storage medium;
- and
- a processor coupled to the non-transient storage medium, the processor configured to:
- identify at least one local power segment of a circuit;
- divide an area occupied by devices supplied by the at least one local power segment into a plurality of cells, wherein each cell has a respective power consumption and a respective area that are based on the respective power consumption such that power consumptions of each of the plurality of cells are approximately equal;
- estimate at least one parameter of the at least one local power segment based on a simulation of the circuit;
- make a design change in the circuit based on at least one electromigration avoidance strategy if the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value, wherein the design change affects at least one cell of the plurality of cells;
- and
- store a data file representing the circuit in the non-transient storage medium if the at least one parameter is less than the threshold value.
A non-transitory storage medium encoded with program code, wherein when the program code is executed by a processor, the processor performs a method, the method comprising:
- identifying at least one local power segment of a circuit;
- dividing an area occupied by devices supplied by the at least one local power segment into a plurality of cells, wherein each cell has a respective power consumption and a respective area that is based on the respective power consumption such that power consumption of each cell of the plurality of cells are approximately equal;
- estimating at least one parameter of the at least one local power segment based on a simulation of the circuit;
- making a design change in the circuit based on at least one electromigration avoidance strategy if the at least one parameter is greater than or equal to a threshold value, wherein the design change affects at least one cell of the plurality of cells;
- and
- storing a data file representing the circuit if the at least one parameter is less than the threshold value.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.