Patents by Inventor Geoffrey Woodhouse

Geoffrey Woodhouse has filed for patents to protect the following inventions. This listing includes patent applications that are pending as well as patents that have already been granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

  • Increased power line noise immunity in IC using capacitor structure in fill area
    Patent number: 7689961
    Abstract: Increase power line noise immunity in an IC is provided by using decoupling capacitor structure in an area of the IC that is typically not used for routing, but filled with unconnected and non-functional metal squares (fills). In one embodiment, a method includes providing a circuit design layout; determining a density of a structure in an area of the circuit design layout; and in response to the density being less than a pre-determined density for the structure in the area, filling in a portion of the area with at least one capacitor structure until a combined density of the structure and the at least one capacitor structure in the area is about equal to the pre-determined density. Power line noise immunity is increased by increasing decoupling capacitance without enlarging the IC's total size by using a (fill) area that would normally be filled with unconnected and non-functional metal shapes.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2005
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2010
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Florian Braun, Hanyi Ding, Kai D. Feng, Zhong-Xiang He, Howard S. Landis, Xuefeng Liu, Geoffrey Woodhouse
  • INCREASED POWER LINE NOISE IMMUNITY IN IC USING CAPACITOR STRUCTURE IN FILL AREA
    Publication number: 20070038968
    Abstract: Increase power line noise immunity in an IC is provided by using decoupling capacitor structure in an area of the IC that is typically not used for routing, but filled with unconnected and non-functional metal squares (fills). In one embodiment, a method includes providing a circuit design layout; determining a density of a structure in an area of the circuit design layout; and in response to the density being less than a pre-determined density for the structure in the area, filling in a portion of the area with at least one capacitor structure until a combined density of the structure and the at least one capacitor structure in the area is about equal to the pre-determined density. Power line noise immunity is increased by increasing decoupling capacitance without enlarging the IC's total size by using a (fill) area that would normally be filled with unconnected and non-functional metal shapes.
    Type: Application
    Filed: August 10, 2005
    Publication date: February 15, 2007
    Applicant: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Florian Braun, Hanyi Ding, Kai Feng, Zhong-Xiang He, Howard Landis, Xuefeng Liu, Geoffrey Woodhouse