Patents by Inventor Oscar G. Mercado

Oscar G. Mercado 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).

  • Patent number: 6877667
    Abstract: Antenna errors are corrected in an integrated circuit design utilizing spare gates distributed throughout the integrated circuit. An integrated circuit in accordance with the invention includes standard cells interspersed with spare gates. For example, the circuit may include one or more rows of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells, or islands of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells. A signal line of the integrated circuit having a detected antenna error associated therewith is coupled via one or more conductors associated with at least one metal layer of the integrated circuit to a diode or other antenna error control circuitry formed using at least one of the spare gates. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 13, 2003
    Date of Patent: April 12, 2005
    Assignee: Lattice Semiconductor Corporation
    Inventors: Jay H. Angle, Christopher D. Gorsuch, Oscar G. Mercado, Anthony K. Myers, John A. Schadt, Brian W. Yeager
  • Patent number: 6822477
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes standard cells interspersed with islands of spare gates. The spare gates are arranged in multiple groups of spare gates, with each group of spare gates within a corresponding designated spare gate area of a standard cell portion of the integrated circuit. At least a given one of the groups of spare gates is arranged between first and second rows of the standard cells and includes one or more rows of spare gates. The spare gate islands may be distributed throughout the standard cell portion of the integrated circuit in a substantially uniform manner, for example, in accordance with a predetermined geometric pattern. The spare gates may be converted to active gates in conjunction with the automated place and route process using only conductors in one or more metal layers of the integrated circuit.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 20, 2003
    Date of Patent: November 23, 2004
    Assignee: Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Craig Bingert, Christopher D. Gorsuch, Oscar G. Mercado, Anthony K. Myers, John A. Schadt, Brian W. Yeager
  • Patent number: 6814296
    Abstract: Antenna errors are corrected in an integrated circuit design utilizing spare gates distributed throughout the integrated circuit. An integrated circuit in accordance with the invention includes standard cells interspersed with spare gates. For example, the circuit may include one or more rows of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells, or islands of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells. A signal line of the integrated circuit having a detected antenna error associated therewith is coupled via one or more conductors associated with at least one metal layer of the integrated circuit to a diode or other antenna error control circuitry formed using at least one of the spare gates. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: November 9, 2004
    Assignee: Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Jay H. Angle, Christopher D. Gorsuch, Oscar G. Mercado, Anthony K. Myers, John A. Schadt, Brian W. Yeager
  • Patent number: 6600341
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes standard cells interspersed with islands of spare gates. The spare gates are arranged in multiple groups of spare gates, with each group of spare gates within a corresponding designated spare gate area of a standard cell portion of the integrated circuit. At least a given one of the groups of spare gates is arranged between first and second rows of the standard cells and includes one or more rows of spare gates, with each row of spare gates including multiple base transistor structures arranged adjacent to one another along longitudinal dimensions of the structures. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool. The spare gates may be implemented using a base transistor structure compatible with the standard cell CAD tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Date of Patent: July 29, 2003
    Assignee: Lattice Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: Craig Bingert, Christopher D. Gorsuch, Oscar G. Mercado, Anthony K. Myers, John A. Schadt, Brian W. Yeager
  • Publication number: 20020167042
    Abstract: Antenna errors are corrected in an integrated circuit design utilizing spare gates distributed throughout the integrated circuit. An integrated circuit in accordance with the invention includes standard cells interspersed with spare gates. For example, the circuit may include one or more rows of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells, or islands of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells. A signal line of the integrated circuit having a detected antenna error associated therewith is coupled via one or more conductors associated with at least one metal layer of the integrated circuit to a diode or other antenna error control circuitry formed using at least one of the spare gates. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Publication date: November 14, 2002
    Inventors: Jay H. Angle, Christopher D. Gorsuch, Oscar G. Mercado, Anthony K. Myers, John A. Schadt, Brian W. Yeager
  • Publication number: 20020163354
    Abstract: An integrated circuit includes standard cells interspersed with islands of spare gates. The spare gates are arranged in multiple groups of spare gates, with each group of spare gates within a corresponding designated spare gate area of a standard cell portion of the integrated circuit. At least a given one of the groups of spare gates is arranged between first and second rows of the standard cells and includes one or more rows of spare gates, with each row of spare gates including multiple base transistor structures arranged adjacent to one another along longitudinal dimensions of the structures. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool. The spare gates may be implemented using a base transistor structure compatible with the standard cell CAD tool.
    Type: Application
    Filed: April 30, 2002
    Publication date: November 7, 2002
    Inventors: Craig Bingert, Christopher D. Gorsuch, Oscar G. Mercado, Anthony K. Myers, John A. Schadt, Brian W. Yeager