Abstract: A method for modeling a circuit includes generating a circuit model based on a netlist that defines a plurality of connections between a plurality of circuit elements. The circuit model includes a model of one or more of the circuit elements. The method further includes determining a wire width associated with at least a selected connection based, at least in part, on design rules associated with the netlist. Additionally, the method includes determining a wire thickness associated with the selected connection based, at least in part, on a signal delay associated with the wire thickness. Furthermore, the method also includes routing the selected connection in the circuit model using a wire having a width substantially equal to the wire width calculated for the connection and a thickness equal to the wire thickness calculated for the connection and storing the circuit model in an electronic storage media.

Abstract: A method for modeling a circuit includes receiving a netlist that defines a plurality of connections between a plurality of circuit elements and identifying a subset of the connections. The method also includes routing the identified connections with a first group of wires having a first wire width and routing at least a portion of the remaining connections with a second wire width. The second wire width is smaller than the first wire width. The method further includes replacing the first group of wires with a third group of wires having the second wire width.

Abstract: A method for modeling a circuit includes generating a circuit model based on a netlist that defines a plurality of connections between a plurality of circuit elements. The circuit model includes a model of one or more of the circuit elements. The method further includes determining a wire width associated with at least a selected connection based, at least in part, on design rules associated with the netlist. Additionally, the method includes determining a wire thickness associated with the selected connection based, at least in part, on a signal delay associated with the wire thickness. Furthermore, the method also includes routing the selected connection in the circuit model using a wire having a width substantially equal to the wire width calculated for the connection and a thickness equal to the wire thickness calculated for the connection and storing the circuit model in an electronic storage media.

Abstract: A method for modeling a circuit includes receiving a netlist that defines a plurality of connections between a plurality of circuit elements and identifying a subset of the connections. The method also includes routing the identified connections with a first group of wires having a first wire width and routing at least a portion of the remaining connections with a second wire width. The second wire width is smaller than the first wire width. The method further includes replacing the first group of wires with a third group of wires having the second wire width.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a method and apparatus for mapping platform-based design to multiple foundry processes. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, a method for mapping platform-based design to multiple foundry processes may include the following steps. First, a virtual process is defined to include at least one fabrication process. A virtual process is a totality of variables associated with the population of candidate processes and any other process of interest, which might be purely hypothetical, that would be capable, in principle, of accommodating some or all slices. A virtual process may or may not be realized and is an abstract logical container for a population of processes. Then, the virtual process may be stored into a database. The virtual process may be in a representation including a list of attributes of entities making up the fabrication process. Next, optimization of the database may be performed using mathematical and statistical tools.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a comprehensive design flow system. A system and method are provided that provide a comprehensive system to introduce a metamethodology that integrates EDA design tools into a manageable and predictable design flow. A method of designing an integrated circuit may include accessing a design utility operating on an information handling system, displaying a dynamic template on a display device of an information handling system, wherein the dynamic template implements at least two symbols displayable on a display device, in which the at least two symbols each correspond to a respective EDA tool, and arranging the at least two symbols displayed on the display device. The at least two symbols are arranged to indicate an interrelationship of the EDA tools in a design process of an integrated circuit.

Abstract: A method for designing an integrated circuit includes selecting representations of integrated circuit components from a plurality of integrated circuit component representations, the representations suitable for being displayed on a display device. Connections are indicated between at least a portion of the selected representations of the integrated circuit components. An integrated circuit description is provided including the selected representations and the indicated connections between the representations, wherein the integrated circuit description includes data obtained from a database having characteristic data corresponding to the plurality of representations.

Abstract: The present invention is directed to a comprehensive design flow system. A system and method are provided that provide a comprehensive system to introduce a metamethodology that integrates EDA design tools into a manageable and predictable design flow. A method of designing an integrated circuit may include accessing a design utility operating on an information handling system, displaying a dynamic template on a display device of an information handling system, wherein the dynamic template implements at least two symbols displayable on a display device, in which the at least two symbols each correspond to a respective EDA tool, and arranging the at least two symbols displayed on the display device. The at least two symbols are arranged to indicate an interrelationship of the EDA tools in a design process of an integrated circuit.

Abstract: A method for design optimization using logical and physical information is provided. In one embodiment, a method for design optimization using logical and physical information, includes receiving a behavioral description of an integrated circuit or a portion of an integrated circuit, optimizing placement of circuit elements in accordance with a first cost function, and optimizing logic of the circuit elements in accordance with a second cost function, in which the optimizing placement of the circuit elements and the optimizing logic of the circuit elements are performed concurrently. The method can further include optimizing routing in accordance with a third cost function, in which the optimizing routing, the optimizing placement of the circuit elements, and the optimizing logic of the circuit elements are performed concurrently.

Abstract: A physical design automation system produces an optimal placement of microelectronic components or cells on an integrate circuit chip. An initial population of possible cell placements is generated, and repeatedly altered using simulated on or other fitness improvement algorithm to progressively increase the fitnesses (decrease the costs) of the placements. After each alteration step, the fitnesses of the placements are calculated, and less fit placements are discarded in favor of more fit placements. After a termination criterion is reached, the placement having the highest fitness is designated as the optimal placement. Two or more fitness improvement algorithms are available, and are optimally switched from one to the other in accordance with an optimization criterion to maximize convergence of the placements toward the optimal configuration.

Abstract: Several inventions are disclosed. A cell architecture using hexagonal shaped cells is disclosed. The architecture is not limited to hexagonal shaped cells. Cells may be defined by clusters of two or more hexagons, by triangles, by parallelograms, and by other polygons enabling a variety of cell shapes to be accommodated. Polydirectional non-orthogonal three layer metal routing is disclosed. The architecture may be combined with the tri-directional routing for a particularly advantageous design. In the tri-directional routing arraingement, electrical conductors for interconnecting terminals of microelectronic cells of an integrated circuit preferrably extend in three directions that are angularly displaced from each other by 60°. The conductors that extend in the three directions are preferrably formed in three different layers. A method of minimizing wire length in a semiconductor device is disclosed. A method of minimizing intermetal capacitance in a semiconductor device is disclosed.

Abstract: Several inventions are disclosed. A cell architecture using hexagonal shaped cells is disclosed. The architecture is not limited to hexagonal shaped cells. Cells may be defined by clusters of two or more hexagons, by triangles, by parallelograms, and by other polygons enabling a variety of cell shapes to be accommodated. Polydirectional non-orthogonal three layer metal routing is disclosed. The architecture may be combined with the tri-directional routing for a particularly advantageous design. In the tri-directional routing arraingement, electrical conductors for interconnecting terminals of microelectronic cells of an integrated circuit preferrably extend in three directions that are angularly displaced from each other by 60°. The conductors that extend in the three directions are preferrably formed in three different layers. A method of minimizing wire length in a semiconductor device is disclosed. A method of minimizing intermetal capacitance in a semiconductor device is disclosed.

Abstract: A system for determining an affinity associated with relocating a cell located on a surface of a semiconductor chip to a different location on the surface is disclosed herein. Each cell may be part of a cell net containing multiple cells. The system initially defines a bounding box containing all cells in the net which contains the cell. The system then establishes a penalty vector based on the bounding box and borders of a region containing the cell, computes a normalized sum of penalties for all nets having the cell as a member, and calculates the affinity based on the normalized sum of penalties. Also included in the disclosed system are methods and apparatus for capacity and utilization planning of the use of the floor, or the surface area, and the methods and apparatus for parallelizing the process of affinity based placements using multiple processors. Finally, method and apparatus for connecting the cells based on a Steiner Tree method is disclosed.

Abstract: A method for design optimization using logical and physical information is provided. In one embodiment, a method for design optimization using logical and physical information, includes receiving a behavioral description of an integrated circuit or a portion of an integrated circuit, optimizing placement of circuit elements in accordance with a first cost function, and optimizing logic of the circuit elements in accordance with a second cost function, in which the optimizing placement of the circuit elements and the optimizing logic of the circuit elements are performed concurrently. The method can further include optimizing routing in accordance with a third cost function, in which the optimizing routing, the optimizing placement of the circuit elements, and the optimizing logic of the circuit elements are performed concurrently.

Abstract: A method for design optimization using logical and physical information is provided. In one embodiment, a method for design optimization using logical and physical information, includes receiving a behavioral description of an integrated circuit or a portion of an integrated circuit, optimizing placement of circuit elements in accordance with a first cost function, and optimizing logic of the circuit elements in accordance with a second cost function, in which the optimizing placement of the circuit elements and the optimizing logic of the circuit elements are performed concurrently. The method can further include optimizing routing in accordance with a third cost function, in which the optimizing routing, the optimizing placement of the circuit elements, and the optimizing logic of the circuit elements are performed concurrently.

Abstract: A system for determining an affinity associated with relocating a cell located on a surface of a semiconductor chip to a different location on the surface is disclosed herein. Each cell may be part of a cell net containing multiple cells. The system initially defines a bounding box containing all cells in the net which contains the cell. The system then establishes a penalty vector based on the bounding box and borders of a region containing the cell, computes a normalized sum of penalties for all nets having the cell as a member, and calculates the affinity based on the normalized sum of penalties. Also included in the disclosed system are methods and apparatus for capacity and utilization planning of the use of the floor, or the surface area, and the methods and apparatus for parallelizing the process of affinity based placements using multiple processors. Finally, method and apparatus for connecting the cells based on a Steiner Tree method is disclosed.

Abstract: A method for refining the position of linearly aligned cells on the surface of a semiconductor chip is disclosed herein. The method comprises defining an array of spaces between cells based on maximum and minimum cell positions, establishing a minimum spacing between cells, and linearly shifting cells in a predetermined manner such that no cells are closer to one another than the minimum spacing between cells. Linear shifting is accomplished by shifting any cell in a positive direction if the spacing associated the cell is less than the minimum spacing between cells; shifting any cell in a negative direction if the spacing associated with the cell is greater than the minimum spacing between cells, but only if all cells on the negative side of the cell have been shifted in their maximum negative direction; and performing positive shifting and negative shifting until all cells have been shifted such that no space between cells is less than the negative space between cells.

Abstract: A large number of possible cell placements for an integrated circuit chip are evaluated to determine which has the highest fitness in accordance with a predetermined criteria such as interconnect congestion. Each cell placement, which constitutes an individual permutation of cells from a population of possible permutations, is represented as an initial cell placement in combination with a list of individual cell transpositions or swaps by which the cell placement can be derived from the initial cell placement. A cell placement can be genetically mutated and/or inverted by adding swaps to the list for its cell placement which designates cells to be transposed. Genetic crossover can be performed by transposing swaps between the lists for two cell placements. This cell representation and transposition method enables any type of cell transposition to be performed without loss or duplication of cells or generation of illegal placements.

Abstract: A process for designing an integrated circuit chip includes specifying a set of cells, a set of wiring nets for interconnecting the cells, and a set of regions on the chip in which the cells are to be placed. An assignment of the cells of the set to the regions is generated, and the set of cells is randomly divided into a first subset of cells which remain in the assignment, and a second subset of cells which are removed from the assignment. Penalties are computed for assigning the cells of the second subset to the regions respectively, and the cells of the second subset are assigned to the regions such that a total penalty thereof is minimized. The process is repeated iteratively with the size of the second subset being progressively reduced relative to the size of the first subset until an end criterion is reached.

Abstract: A method for optimizing layout design using logical and physical information performs placement, logic optimization and routing and routing estimates concurrently. In one embodiment, circuit elements of the integrated circuit is partitioned into clusters. The clusters are then placed and routed by iterating over an inner-loop and an outer-loop according to cost functions in the placement model which takes into consideration interconnect wiring delays. Iterating over the inner-loop, logic optimization steps improves the cost functions of the layout design. Iterating over the outer-loop, the size of the clusters, hence the granularity of the placement, is refined until the level of individual cells is reached. The present method is especially suited for parallel processing by multiple central processing units accessing a shared memory containing the design data base.