Abstract: In a method of designing a semiconductor device, a transistor included in a layout of the semiconductor device may be selected. A biasing data may be set for changing a characteristic of the selected transistor. A design rule check (DRC) process for the layout of the semiconductor device may be performed after ignoring the biasing data. An optical proximity correction (OPC) process for the layout of the semiconductor device may be performed based on the biasing data.

Abstract: A method of controlling the provision of a body bias voltage to a logic gate region of a semiconductor device includes; gating application of a clock signal applied to a synchronization element in the logic gate region in accordance with an enable signal, and providing the body bias voltage to each body terminal of a plurality of logic gates arranged in the logic gate region in accordance with the enable signal.

Abstract: In a method of designing a semiconductor device, a transistor included in a layout of the semiconductor device may be selected. A biasing data may be set for changing a characteristic of the selected transistor. A design rule check (DRC) process for the layout of the semiconductor device may be performed after ignoring the biasing data. An optical proximity correction (OPC) process for the layout of the semiconductor device may be performed based on the biasing data.

Abstract: In a method of estimating a leakage current in a semiconductor device, a chip including a plurality of cells is divided into segments by a grid model. Spatial correlation is determined as spatial correlation between process parameters concerned with the leakage currents in each of the cells. A virtual cell leakage characteristic function of a cell is generated by arithmetically operating actual leakage characteristic functions. A segment leakage characteristic function of a segment is generated by arithmetically operating the virtual cell leakage characteristic functions of all cells in the segment. Then, a full chip leakage characteristic function of the chip is generated by statistically operating the segment leakage characteristic functions of all segments in the chip. Accordingly, computational loads of Wilkinson's method for generating the full chip leakage characteristic function can remarkably be reduced.

Abstract: A circuit having an active clock shielding structure includes a logic circuit that receives a clock signal and performs a logic operation based on the clock signal, a power gating circuit that switches a mode of the logic circuit between an active mode and an sleep mode based on a power gating signal, a clock signal transmission line that transmits the clock signal to the logic circuit, and at least one power gating signal transmission line that transmits the power gating signal to the power gating circuit and functions as a shielding line pair with the clock signal transmission line.

Abstract: Provided is a black box timing modeling method for a digital circuit comprising synchronous elements including latches. The method includes: characterizing a setup time arc by extracting a setup time with respect to a rising or falling edge of a clock of a synchronous element with respect to an input connected to the synchronous element and forming the setup time arc using the extracted setup time; and characterizing a clock-to-output delay arc by providing information on an output departure time from an output based on a rising or falling edge of a clock of a closest synchronous element connected to the output, at least partially based on the setup time arc and forming the clock-to-output delay arc. Accordingly, the method can be efficiently used for a latch-based design without re-verifying internal components of the latch-based design during an upper-level verification, thereby reducing verification time and model size.

Abstract: In a method of estimating a leakage current in semiconductor device, a chip including a plurality of cells is divided into segments by a grid model. Spatial correlation is determined as spatial correlation between process parameters concerned with the leakage currents in each of the cells. A virtual cell leakage characteristic function of the cell is generated by arithmetically operating actual leakage characteristic functions. A segment leakage characteristic function is generated by arithmetically operating the virtual cell leakage characteristic functions of each cell in the segment. Then, a full chip leakage characteristic function is generated by statistically operating the segment leakage characteristic functions of each segment in the chip. Accordingly, the computational loads of Wilkinson's method for generating the full chip leakage characteristic function may be remarkably reduced.

Abstract: A circuit having an active clock shielding structure includes a logic circuit that receives a clock signal and performs a logic operation based on the clock signal, a power gating circuit that switches a mode of the logic circuit between an active mode and an sleep mode based on a power gating signal, a clock signal transmission line that transmits the clock signal to the logic circuit, and at least one power gating signal transmission line that transmits the power gating signal to the power gating circuit and functions as a shielding line pair with the clock signal transmission line.

Abstract: Provided is a black box timing modeling method for a digital circuit comprising synchronous elements including latches. The method includes: characterizing a setup time arc by extracting a setup time with respect to a rising or falling edge of a clock of a synchronous element with respect to an input connected to the synchronous element and forming the setup time arc using the extracted setup time; and characterizing a clock-to-output delay arc by providing information on an output departure time from an output based on a rising or falling edge of a clock of a closest synchronous element connected to the output, at least partially based on the setup time arc and forming the clock-to-output delay arc. Accordingly, the method can be efficiently used for a latch-based design without re-verifying internal components of the latch-based design during an upper-level verification, thereby reducing verification time and model size.