Design Verification (functional Simulation, Model Checking) Patents (Class 716/106)
  • Patent number: 10999180
    Abstract: Object automated determination of monitors associated with a component (i.e., application/software, middleware, hardware or the like) that has yet to be implemented within a computing environment infrastructure. Such a determination of the monitors relies on deploying one or more probes that scan through various, if not all, layers of the computing environment infrastructure, such as the hardware, the network, storage, operating systems, virtual layer, middleware, database, application layer, and/or the application to identify possible monitoring requirements. In this regard, the probes scan the environment to determine downstream services that effect the component and the upstream services effected by the component and the set-up/configurations associated with those services. Once the services and corresponding configurations have been identified, the appropriate monitors can be determined.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 28, 2020
    Date of Patent: May 4, 2021
    Assignee: BANK OF AMERICA CORPORATION
    Inventor: Sasidhar Purushothaman
  • Patent number: 10984162
    Abstract: Methods and systems for verifying, via formal verification, a hardware design for a data transformation pipeline comprising one or more data transformation elements that perform a data transformation on one or more inputs, wherein the formal verification is performed under conditions that simplify the data transformations calculations that the formal verification tool has to perform. In one embodiment the hardware design for the data transformation pipeline is verified by formally verifying that the output of an instantiation of the hardware design produces the same output as an instantiation of a hardware design for another data transformation pipeline for a predetermined set of transactions under a constraint that substantially equivalent data transformation elements between the data transformation pipelines produce the same output(s) in response to the same input(s).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Sam Elliott
  • Patent number: 10984002
    Abstract: A node type of a plurality of distributed nodes to which a table to be added to a distributed database should be assigned can be identified by applying a set of placement rules defined for the table. The set of placement rules can also be applied to determine whether the table should be partitioned into more than one partition. A table group name associated with the table can be obtained and used in conjunction with the node type and determination of whether to partition the table to store the table in the distributed database on at least one node of the plurality of nodes as one or more partitions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 11, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: SAP SE
    Inventors: Hans-Joerg Leu, Christian Bensberg, Johannes Beigel, Jochen Becker, Carsten Mueller
  • Patent number: 10984159
    Abstract: A method, and apparatus and a computer program product for determining coverage in hardware verification based on relations between coverage events. The method comprises generating an over-approximation model of the hardware being verified to perform formal verification thereof with respect to a target coverage event being utilized in the verification process along with a set of coverage events. A score indicating an estimated conditional probability to hit the target coverage event in the verification process, given that the coverage event is hit in the verification process, may be determined for each coverage event based on the formal verification. The method further comprises selecting test suits to be executed in the verification process based on the scores and the test suits probability to hit each coverage event. The verification process may be the performed the selected test suits in order to cover the target coverage event.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 20, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Ziv Nevo, Alexander Ivrii, Avi Ziv, Raviv Gal, Haim Kermany
  • Patent number: 10977032
    Abstract: A design assistance device assists design of a processing device to execute processing and includes an acquirer, divider, communication code generator, and outputter. The acquirer acquires processing code describing content of the processing. The divider divides the processing code into modules and determines, for each of the modules, an execution environment in which the module is to be executed, from among a plurality of execution environments provided on the processing device. The communication code generator generates, when a module of the plurality of modules includes partial processing prioritized for execution in a second execution environment other than a first execution environment determined for execution of the module, a communication code for communication between the first execution environment and the second execution environment to execute the partial processing in the second execution environment.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 25, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 13, 2021
    Assignee: MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC CORPORATION
    Inventor: Takuya Miyamaru
  • Patent number: 10970449
    Abstract: Generating an abstract model of the behavior of a hardware and/or software design. A learning framework learns an unknown regular language that represents the behaviors of the hardware and/or software logic which do not violate a specified property that the abstract model is required to satisfy. The framework receives input data including the specified property, concrete models of the behavior of the hardware and/or software; and an alphabet of all symbols that are allowed to occur in any string that can be defined in the unknown regular language, each symbol representing an event in the hardware and/or software. The framework generates an abstract model of the behavior of the hardware or software design by checking whether a sequence of events in a concrete model satisfies the specified property and outputs the generated abstract model.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 20, 2017
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Rajdeep Mukherjee, Raphael Polig, Mitra Purandare
  • Patent number: 10970444
    Abstract: A method and/or system is disclosed for pre-silicon verification of a first integrated circuit design modified to a second integrated circuit design to avoid a hit of property P where property P has a known counterexample. The method/system includes applying a first implication check in an equivalence testbench on the first integrated circuit and on the second integrated circuit to determine whether the second integrated circuit hits property P in the same way as the first integrated circuit hits property P. Additionally or alternatively applying a second implication check to determine whether the second integrated circuit hits property P at a different timestep than the first integrated circuit hits property P. Additionally or alternatively applying a third implication check to determine whether the second integrated circuit hits property P further along a path than the first integrated circuit hits property P.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 10, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Bradley Donald Bingham, Viresh Paruthi, Abrar Polani
  • Patent number: 10970441
    Abstract: A neural network based learning system for designing a circuit, the design system including at least one memory, at least one processor in communication with said at least one memory, said at least one processor configured to generate a mathematical model of the circuit, determine a structural definition of the circuit from the mathematical model, define a mapping of a plurality of components of the circuit to a plurality of neurons representing the plurality of components of the circuit using at least the structural definition, synthesize, on a hardware substrate, the plurality of neurons, and execute, using the synthesized plurality of neurons on the hardware substrate, at least one test using at least one optimization constraint to determine an optimal arrangement of the plurality of components.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 2019
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: Washington University
    Inventors: Xuan Zhang, Ayan Chakrabarti
  • Patent number: 10970454
    Abstract: Invention disclosed herein is a method for performing connectivity verification of an integrated circuit device. In embodiments of the invention, the method includes creating a directed graph representation of the integrated circuit device. The method can further include determining target gates referred to as trace signals within the integrated circuit device. The method can further include creating a hierarchical representation of trace signals and determining nested trace signals. The method can further include determining one or more locations for cut points for non-nested trace signals. Thereafter, performing connectivity verification using the one or more locations for cut points. Finally improving scalability of the connectivity verification by utilizing hierarchical decomposition embodiment of the invention.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 6, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Pradeep Kumar Nalla, Raj Kumar Gajavelly, Jason Baumgartner, Raja Bilwakeshwar Ivaturi
  • Patent number: 10970437
    Abstract: Data is received that characterizes a chip in the package system (CPS) having a plurality of wires and vias. Thereafter, using the received data, a chip power calculation is performed. The chip power calculated is used to generate a thermal-aware power map. Further, package and system level thermal analysis is performed using the power map to generate a tile-based CPS thermal profile. A plurality of chip finite element sub-models are then generated that each correspond to a different tile. A thermal field solution is solved for each sub-model so that, for each wire, wire temperature rises are extracted from the corresponding the chip sub-model analysis and combined with temperature values from the CPS thermal profile. This extracting and combining is then used to generate a back-annotation file covering each metal wire and via in the CPS.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 23, 2020
    Date of Patent: April 6, 2021
    Assignee: ANSYS, Inc
    Inventors: Hsiming Pan, Zhigang Feng, Norman Chang
  • Patent number: 10963608
    Abstract: A computer implemented method of passive verification of an electronic design, includes the steps of receiving a first electronic design file of a first electronic design comprised at least in part of a mixed signal or analog system, the first electronic design file including at least one first system and first subsystem, collecting first input data from at least one first system input and first subsystem input, analyzing a first parameter of the first input data, receiving a second electronic design file of a second electronic design comprised at least in part of a mixed signal or analog system, the second electronic design file including at least one second system and second subsystem that are comparable in function to the at least one first system and first subsystem of the first electronic design file, collecting second input data from at least one second system input and second subsystem input of the second design file, analyzing the first parameter of the second input data, comparing the analysis of the
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 24, 2020
    Date of Patent: March 30, 2021
    Assignee: ZIPALOG, INC.
    Inventors: Felicia James, Michael Krasnicki
  • Patent number: 10956640
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for electronic design verification. Embodiments may include receiving, using a processor, an electronic design and providing at least a portion of the electronic design to a machine learning engine. Embodiments may further include automatically determining, based upon, at least in part, an output of the machine learning engine whether or not the at least a portion of the electronic design is amenable to formal verification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 10, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 23, 2021
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Georgia Penido Safe, Mirlaine Aparecida Crepalde, Yumi Monma, Felipe Althoff, Fernanda Augusta Braga, Lucas Martins Chaves, Pedro Bruno Neri Silva, Mariana Ferreira Marques, Vincent Gregory Reynolds
  • Patent number: 10949594
    Abstract: Disclosed examples include methods for verifying mixed-signal circuit design, in which an executable specification file is generated including integration abstractions that represent an intended integration of ports and digital circuit blocks of the mixed-signal design, a formal properties file is automatically generated from the executable specification file, an analog circuit component of the mixed-signal circuit design is modeled as a digital circuit component in a model file, at least one analog circuit block of the mixed-signal circuit design is modeled as one or more ports in the model file, and correspondence of connections of the formal properties file and the model file is verified with the mixed-signal circuit design to generate a coverage report file.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 21, 2019
    Date of Patent: March 16, 2021
    Assignee: TEXAS INSTRUMENTS INCORPORATED
    Inventor: Sudhakar Surendran
  • Patent number: 10929583
    Abstract: Methods and systems for verifying a derived clock using assertion-based verification. The method comprises counting the number of full or half cycles of a fast clock that occur between the rising edge and the falling edge of a slow clock (i.e. during the ON phase of the slow clock); counting the number of full or half cycles of the fast clock that occur between the falling edge and the rising edge of the slow clock (i.e. during the OFF phase of the slow clock); and verifying the counts using assertion-based verification.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 14, 2019
    Date of Patent: February 23, 2021
    Assignee: Imagination Technologies Limited
    Inventor: Ashish Darbari
  • Patent number: 10922456
    Abstract: The present embodiments relate to electrostatic discharge (ESD) simulation of integrated circuit designs. A netlist of the circuit design can be modified to include ESD protection devices and only essential non-ESD devices. The essential non-ESD devices can be determined based on whether a non-ESD device satisfies one or more of two conditions: (i) a least resistance path (LRP) value of at least one terminal of the non-ESD device from any port of the set of ports is less than a first threshold value or (ii) an effective resistance value between at least one terminal of the non-ESD device from any port of the set of ports is less than a second threshold value. The essential non-ESD devices are included in a reduced netlist in addition to the ESD protection devices. The ESD simulation is carried out on the reduced netlist, thereby reducing simulation time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 16, 2021
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Inc.
    Inventors: Nandu Kumar Chowdhury, Rishab Dhawan, Parveen Khurana
  • Patent number: 10909290
    Abstract: A method of detecting a circuit malfunction in a register transfer level, RTL, design stage is disclosed. The method comprises obtaining signal points of each register from a circuit model based on the RTL design stage, generating a property list according to the signal points of each register, wherein the property list includes a property to be verified for each signal point, performing a formal verification operation according to the circuit model and the property list, to determine whether the property of the property list for each signal point in the circuit model is true, and generating a circuit malfunction result according to the signal point whose property is not true.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2020
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Realtek Semiconductor Corp.
    Inventors: I-Hsiu Lo, Yung-Jen Chen, Yu-Lan Lo, Shu-Yi Kao
  • Patent number: 10909301
    Abstract: An approach is described for determining waiver applicability conditions and applying the conditions to multiple errors or warnings in physical verification tools. According to some embodiments, the approach includes identification of a waiver of an error or warning, registration of one or more condition sets for waiver of an error or warning, waiver of multiple errors or warnings that match the registered one or more condition sets, and further comprise any or all of the following: receiving or retrieving a circuit design, analyzing the circuit design to identify errors and warnings, and displaying identified errors and warnings where errors and warnings matching a registered condition set are waived. This approach provides for a 1-to-many relationship between identification of a waiver and application of waivers.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 29, 2017
    Date of Patent: February 2, 2021
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Alexey Kalinov, Douglas Den Dulk, Andrey Freidlin
  • Patent number: 10903082
    Abstract: A method may include forming in a substrate a first array of a first material of first linear structures, interspersed with a second array of a second material, of second linear structures, the first and second linear structures elongated along a first axis. The method may include generating a chop pattern in the first layer, comprising a third linear array, interspersed with a fourth linear array. The third and fourth linear arrays may be elongated along a second axis, forming a non-zero angle of incidence with respect to the first axis. The third linear array may include alternating portions of the first and second material, while the fourth linear array comprises an array of cavities, arranged within the patterning layer. The method may include elongating a first set of cavities along the first axis, to form a first set of elongated cavities bounded by the first material.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 18, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 26, 2021
    Assignee: Varian Semiconductor Equipment Associates, Inc.
    Inventor: Sony Varghese
  • Patent number: 10897132
    Abstract: Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection for an electronic circuit includes a timer circuit that controls multiple clamp circuits. In this way, less circuit area may be used for the timer circuit as compared to conventional ESD protection schemes. In some embodiments, the ESD protection circuit is employed in a data storage apparatus that includes a non-volatile memory array (e.g., NAND devices).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: January 19, 2021
    Assignee: WESTERN DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
    Inventors: Bhawna Tomar, Rohith Aravind Mahale, Seema Malhotra, Ajay Kanth Chitturi
  • Patent number: 10890622
    Abstract: Aspects include parsing, by a computer system, a design file of an integrated circuit including a plurality of stages to extract a plurality of inputs and outputs of a plurality of latches. The computer system can sort the latches based on latch locations in the stages and build a plurality of ordered vectors of signals before and after the latches based on the sorting. The computer system can build a plurality of parity vectors for each of the ordered vectors of signals before and after the latches, build a latch bank for each of the parity vectors before the latches, and build a parity vector comparison to detect a parity failure based on comparing the parity vectors after the latches with an output of the latch bank.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 29, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 12, 2021
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Stefan Payer, Michael Klein, Nicol Hofmann, Cedric Lichtenau
  • Patent number: 10885251
    Abstract: A system and method of verifying hardware that includes software configured to control its operation, the method comprising providing an abstracted version of hardware to be tested; verifying the functionality of the hardware; writing test bench software using physical-layer routines; drafting hybrid verification intellectual property modules, wherein the hybrid verification intellectual property modules comprise both synthesizable and non-synthesizable code and are configured to stimulate the abstracted hardware and to test software anticipated to be used in connection therewith; and creating network-level routines that can be passed to physical-layer routines as part of a hardware verification process.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 22, 2019
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: BAE Systems Information and Electronic Systems Integration Inc.
    Inventors: Jeffrey E. Robertson, Mary T. Hanley, Elizabeth J. Williams
  • Patent number: 10885252
    Abstract: Aspects of the present disclosure address systems and methods for functional coverage in integrated circuit (IC) designs utilizing arbitrary expression to define irrelevant domains in coverage item definitions. A coverage item definition is determined to include an arbitrary expression that defines an irrelevant domain for a coverage item in a functional coverage analysis of an IC design. Based on determining if the item definition comprises the arbitrary expression, a verification the arbitrary expression satisfies one or more analyzability conditions is performed. Based on verifying the arbitrary expression satisfies the one or more analyzability conditions, the irrelevant domain for the coverage item is calculated based on the arbitrary expression. An enhanced functional coverage model that excludes the irrelevant domain for the coverage item is generated and used to perform the functional coverage analysis on the IC design.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2020
    Date of Patent: January 5, 2021
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Rodion Vladimirovich Melnikov, Amit Metodi, Samer Raed Alqassis
  • Patent number: 10878156
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for probabilistic simulation of a microelectronic device, said method being implemented automatically by an electronic processing device and including the following steps: a) defining a plurality of first samples of the device from a probability distribution of at least one physical parameter of the device; b) for each first sample, determining, through an electrical simulation method, the value of at least one operating variable of the device; c) defining, by regression from values of the physical parameters and operating variables of the first samples simulated in step b), a mathematical model approximating the response of the electrical simulation method.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 29, 2020
    Assignee: SILVACO FRANCE
    Inventors: Yoann Courant, Firas Mohamed Monade, Pierre Faubet
  • Patent number: 10860769
    Abstract: An integrated circuit (IC) design method includes receiving a spatial correlation matrix, R, of certain property of post-fabrication IC devices; and deriving a random number generation function g(x, y) such that random numbers for a device at a coordinate (x, y) can be generated by g(x, y) independent of other devices, and all pairs of random numbers satisfy the spatial correlation matrix R. The method further includes receiving an IC design layout having pre-fabrication IC devices, each of the pre-fabrication IC devices having a coordinate and a first value of the property. The method further includes generating random numbers using the coordinates of the pre-fabrication IC devices and the function g(x, y); deriving second values of the property by applying the random numbers to the first values; and providing the second values to an IC simulation tool.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD.
    Inventors: Katherine Chiang, Cheng Hsiao, Chang-Yu Huang, Juan Yi Chen, Ke-Wei Su, Chung-Kai Lin, Lester Chang, Min-Chie Jeng
  • Patent number: 10860761
    Abstract: Example systems and methods are disclosed for estimating power consumption by a clock tree in a register-transfer level (RTL) circuit design based on a previously generated reference gate-level circuit design. A plurality of regions within the clock tree structure of the reference gate-level circuit design are identified, where the plurality of regions are demarcated by one or more clock gating structures. A region-based clock model is generated that includes at least one clock constraint model for each identified region. The region-based clock model is used to synthesize the clock tree in the RTL circuit design for estimating power consumption.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 4, 2019
    Date of Patent: December 8, 2020
    Assignee: Ansys, Inc.
    Inventors: Renuka Vanukuri, Seema Naswa
  • Patent number: 10853543
    Abstract: An automated method of determining power sequencing risks (e.g. power-up, power-down time sequences) for complex computer circuits with multiple independent power supplies. The method operates by logical consideration of the topological arrangement of MOSFETs and other devices in standard netlists. The invention inspects the various devices and automatically traces DC circuit paths to DC power rails. The invention then evaluates, as a type of logical existence proof, and on a per MOSFET device level, if due to assignment to different DC power levels, various factors, such as forward-biased diodes, floating MOSFET gate, and other risk factors could ever occur. The method generates comprehensive records of such risks and can output an overall analysis of a circuit reporting on both problematic power sequences, as well as circuit design factors that may be sub-optimal from a power sequence perspective.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 29, 2020
    Date of Patent: December 1, 2020
    Inventor: Jesse Conrad Newcomb
  • Patent number: 10846163
    Abstract: Described herein is a hybrid approach to error reporting, using a combination of hardware and software, for peripheral component interconnect (PCI) express devices. The device hardware detects an error on a packet, where the packet is for a transaction and received from a host computer. Upon detecting the error, the device hardware generates an interrupt that is processed in software. In certain embodiments, the software based processing involves determining, based on the packet, that the transaction is directed to an address space of an emulated configuration register. The software based processing further involves identifying a function as being associated with the error, determining attributes associated with the error, and storing the attributes and an identifier associated with the function in a location available to the device hardware, thereby enabling the device hardware to report the attributes and identifier to the host computer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 19, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc.
    Inventors: Hani Ayoub, Adi Habusha, Itay Poleg
  • Patent number: 10846455
    Abstract: A method of verifying a circuit design, includes, in part, identifying a first groups of signals associated with the circuit, selecting a signal sampling window depth, performing a first verification of the circuit using a first test bench adapted to cause transitions in the first group of signals, storing values of the signals in the first group during each of the cycles defined by the sapling window depth to generate a first functional coverage, performing a second verification of the circuit design using a second test bench to generate a second functional coverage, comparing the second functional coverage to the first functional coverage, and automatically generating one or more cover property statements if the second functional coverage is less than the first functional coverage. The one or more cover property statements cause the second functional coverage to become equal to or greater than the first functional coverage.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 8, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 24, 2020
    Assignee: SYNOPSYS, INC.
    Inventors: Saptarshi Ghosh, Yogesh Pandey, Sivaprasad Acharya, Eduard Cerny
  • Patent number: 10831961
    Abstract: A data analysis engine is implemented in a testbench to improve coverage convergence during simulation of a device-under-validation (DUV). During a first simulation phase initial stimulus data is generated according to initial random variables based on user-provided constraint parameters. The data analysis engine then uses a time-based technique to match coverage variables sampled from simulation response data with corresponding initial random variables, determines a functional dependency (relationship) between the sampled coverage variables and corresponding initial random variables, then automatically generates revised constraint parameters based on the functional dependency. The revised constraint parameters are then used during a second simulation phase to generate focused random variables used to stimulate the DUV to reach additional coverage variables. In one embodiment, the functional dependency is determined by cross-correlating sampled coverage variables and corresponding initial random variables.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 12, 2019
    Date of Patent: November 10, 2020
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Esha Dutta, Danish Jawed, Bhaskar Pal, Parijat Biswas, Pravash Chandra Dash, Rajarshi Mukherjee, Sharad Gaur
  • Patent number: 10824772
    Abstract: Aspects determine optimal physical attribute values for defining a grip form factor on a microfluidic grip panel of a digital pen as a function of a correlation of the optimal physical attribute values to an intended use of the digital pen, wherein the optimal physical attribute values include a width dimension, a surface texture attribute, and shape pattern attribute that is defined as a function of the width dimension; and drive the microfluidic grip panel into a grip form corresponding to the determined optimal physical attribute values during use of the digital pen by a user.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: November 3, 2020
    Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
    Inventors: Sarbajit K. Rakshit, Martin G. Keen, John M. Ganci, Jr., James E. Bostick
  • Patent number: 10803218
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for simulating quantile behavior of a physical system. A plurality of parameter samples to a physical system are accessed and a subset of the parameter samples are identified, each of the plurality of parameter samples including a variation of parameters for the physical system. The physical system is simulated based on the subset of the parameter samples to generate simulation results, each of the subset of the parameter samples corresponding to a respective one of the simulation results. A neural network is trained to predict the simulation results based on the subset of the parameter samples.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: ANSYS, INC
    Inventors: Qian Shen, Joao Geada, Robert Geada
  • Patent number: 10803221
    Abstract: Described is a method for implementing a snap to capability that enables the manufactured of a valid pattern in a semiconductor device, based upon an originally invalid pattern.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 5, 2017
    Date of Patent: October 13, 2020
    Assignee: PDF Solutions, Inc.
    Inventors: Elizabeth Lagnese, Jonathan Haigh
  • Patent number: 10795266
    Abstract: A model-based tuning method for tuning a first lithography system utilizing a reference lithography system, each of which has tunable parameters for controlling imaging performance. The method includes the steps of defining a test pattern and an imaging model; imaging the test pattern utilizing the reference lithography system and measuring the imaging results; imaging the test pattern utilizing the first lithography system and measuring the imaging results; calibrating the imaging model utilizing the imaging results corresponding to the reference lithography system, where the calibrated imaging model has a first set of parameter values; tuning the calibrated imaging model utilizing the imaging results corresponding to the first lithography system, where the tuned calibrated model has a second set of parameter values; and adjusting the parameters of the first lithography system based on a difference between the first set of parameter values and the second set of parameter values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 9, 2018
    Date of Patent: October 6, 2020
    Assignee: ASML Netherlands B.V.
    Inventors: Jun Ye, Yu Cao
  • Patent number: 10775430
    Abstract: A computing system implementing a functional safety validation tool to simulate a circuit design having a digital portion and an analog portion, and inject a fault into the digital portion of a simulated circuit design, which propagates towards alarm logic configured to detect the injected fault. When the injected fault propagates to a boundary between the digital portion and the analog portion, the functional safety validation tool can perform a parallel simulation of the analog portion, which propagates the injected fault from the boundary through the analog portion to an output. The functional safety validation tool can determine whether the analog portion of the circuit design suppresses the injected fault based on a value at the output. The functional safety validation tool can generate a fault coverage presentation identifying a diagnostic coverage of the alarm logic based on whether the injected fault was suppressed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 15, 2020
    Assignee: Mentor Graphics Corporation
    Inventors: Sanjay Pillay, Arun Kumar Gogineni, Srikanth Rengarajan
  • Patent number: 10768916
    Abstract: In one embodiment, a method may receive, by a compiler of a host computing system, source code for a computer application. The method may also include separating a first portion of the source code and a second portion of the source code that are to be compiled for execution by an accelerator operatively coupled to the host computing system. The method may also include compiling the first portion of the source code to generate hardware description language code. A logic block is to be generated on the accelerator in view of the hardware description language code. The method also includes compiling the second portion of the source code to generate softcore processor code, and adding instructions to the softcore processor code to cause the softcore processor code to interact with the logic block during execution of the softcore processor code and the logic block.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 28, 2018
    Date of Patent: September 8, 2020
    Assignee: Red Hat, Inc.
    Inventor: Ulrich Drepper
  • Patent number: 10762259
    Abstract: A computer/software tool for electronic design automation (EDA) extracts parasitics from a post-layout netlist file for an integrated circuit (IC) design and uses these parasitics to model circuit behavior between one or more excitation points and one or more observation points for a given circuit design characteristic. Sensitivities of that given circuit design characteristic to each constituent parasitic (or a group of parasitics that might be, for example, associated with a given structural element such as a layer) are then computed. The computer/software tool generates a visual display based on the relative sensitivities; for example, in one embodiment, relative sensitivities can be color-coded to permit a designer to visualize sources of problems in the IC design. In other embodiments, the sensitivities can be filtered and/or processed, e.g., so as to provide EDA driven assistance to changes to reduce excessive sensitivities or sensitivities to certain parasitics.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 2, 2019
    Date of Patent: September 1, 2020
    Assignee: Diakopto, Inc.
    Inventor: Maxim Ershov
  • Patent number: 10747922
    Abstract: A test circuit includes a plurality of codec logic elements arranged in a plurality of annular rings on an integrated circuit, each codec logic element configured to provide test bits to one or more respective scan chain and receive test result bits from the one or more respective scan chain. The test circuit further includes a decompressor logic arranged along at least one annular ring of the plurality of annular rings on the integrated circuit, the decompressor logic configured to provide test bits to at least one codec logic element in each annular ring. The test circuit also includes a compressor logic arranged transversely with respect to the plurality of annular rings on the integrated circuit, the compressor logic configured to receive test result bits from at least one of the plurality of codec logic elements.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 18, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Akhil Garg, Sahil Jain, Vivek Chickermane
  • Patent number: 10746793
    Abstract: The present specification is related to analysis of digital circuits for assessing a fault sensitivity of a digital logic circuit. An example method includes: obtaining a set of input vectors that represent possible inputs to the digital logic circuit; for each output gate of the plurality of digital logic gates: (i) for each input vector of the set of input vectors, determining a cumulative output delay for the output gate, and (ii) determining an averaged cumulative output delay for the output gate by averaging the cumulative output delays for the output gate that were determined for multiple input vectors of the set of input vectors; generating a fault sensitivity score for the digital logic circuit based on the averaged cumulative output delays for the output gates of the digital logic circuit; and providing the fault sensitivity score.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 7, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 18, 2020
    Assignee: Accenture Global Solutions Limited
    Inventor: Nahid Farhady Ghalaty
  • Patent number: 10740516
    Abstract: An unobservable cycle for at least one latch in a circuit design is detected. The unobservable cycle indicates that the at least one latch is not observable to downstream logic in the circuit design. A coverage event is generated to identify the unobservable cycle for the at least one latch. The coverage event is tracked to detect a state associated with the unobservable cycle and a state change cycle. The state change cycle is determined based on a simulation technique. A redundant switching of the at least one latch based on the state associated with the unobservable cycle and the state change cycle is determined. Furthermore, manufacturing of a circuit based on the circuit design is at least initiated. The circuit design is modified to prevent the redundant switching of the at least one latch.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Giora Biran, Eli Arbel
  • Patent number: 10740525
    Abstract: A method for simulating semiconductor devices includes running ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) simulations of a plurality of semiconductor devices having a first plurality of configurations in a Design of Experiment (DoE) space to produce EMC results. Mobility parameters are extracted across the DoE space from the EMC results. A response-surface mobility model is constructed using the extracted mobility parameters. The response-surface mobility model is used to run a drift-diffusion simulation of a semiconductor device with a different configuration from the first plurality of configurations.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2016
    Date of Patent: August 11, 2020
    Assignee: SYNOPSYS, INC.
    Inventor: Asen Asenov
  • Patent number: 10733342
    Abstract: A hierarchical power verification system and method creates abstract models of power behavior of modules that it successfully verifies. The abstract models simplify the module definition by omitting internal module details but provide sufficient information for power verification of higher level modules that incorporate this abstracted module. Design blocks are replaced with these abstract power models, resulting in reduced run-time and memory requirements. The power models can include power switches inside the block, related supplies of logic ports, supply power states, system power states, power management devices such as isolation logic and level shifters, feed-through and floating ports. The power model may be expressed either in UPF or as a combination of liberty model and UPF. After replacing modules with abstracted models the HPVS can quickly verify an entire SoC with a small memory footprint.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 19, 2018
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Synopsys, Inc.
    Inventors: Shekaripuram V. Venkatesh, Nitin Sharma, Sanjay Gulati, Parul Bhatia
  • Patent number: 10733341
    Abstract: An illustrative system may comprise a plurality of distributed network nodes hosting a two-dimensional distributed digital ledger. The distributed digital ledger may have a plurality of chains of digital blocks in the two-dimensions, wherein each chain may be associated with a particular functionality (e.g., a first set of integrated circuit processes) and a corresponding level of security. For example, a first chain in the first direction may contain digital blocks containing code differentials of the hardware description language code forming the integrated circuit design. A second chain in a second direction may contain digital blocks containing simulation data records generated during the simulation of the integrated circuit design. The first chain and the second chain may be based upon different cryptographic protocols and therefore may be cryptographically separate from each other.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 27, 2019
    Date of Patent: August 4, 2020
    Assignee: Architecture Technology Corporation
    Inventor: Joseph Cascioli
  • Patent number: 10726190
    Abstract: Systems and methods are provided for identifying a wire of a plurality of wires to be adjusted to mitigate effects of electromigration. A segment electromigration stress value for each segment of a wire is determined for a wire of a circuit in a circuit design. A wire electromigration stress value for the wire is determined as a function of the segment electromigration stress values of segments of the wire. A ranked list of two or more wires of the circuit is displayed according the wire electromigration stress values of the two or more wires.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 11, 2018
    Date of Patent: July 28, 2020
    Assignee: ANSYS, INC.
    Inventor: Craig Larsen
  • Patent number: 10719657
    Abstract: Disclosed are a process design kit (PDK) for integrated circuit (IC) designs and a computer-aided design (CAD) system that employs the PDK. The PDK includes a design scan script. When the script is executed by the CAD system, previously generated and stored IC designs are scanned and a report with cell use information (CUI) is generated. The CUI indicates the different parameterized cells (pcells) and different configurations thereof contained in the IC designs. Also disclosed is a PDK development system, which receives CUI reports from CAD system(s), compiles the CUI, and revises the PDK (i.e., develops an update or upgrade) based, in part, on the complied CUI. For example, the complied CUI can indicate critical targets that require a regression analysis during the PDK revision process. By limiting regression analyses to identified critical targets, the turn around time and costs associated with revising the PDK are significantly reduced.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 2019
    Date of Patent: July 21, 2020
    Assignee: GLOBALFOUNDRIES INC.
    Inventor: Romain Herve Aurelien Feuillette
  • Patent number: 10713406
    Abstract: A method for optimizing a multi die implementation flow that is aware of mix-and-match die integration for implementing multi-die integrated circuits includes partitioning a netlist into partitions comprehending mix-and-match die integration, wherein each partition will be assigned to a die. Each partition is placed into a corresponding die. A clock tree of the integrated circuit is synthesized. Nets of the integrated circuit in are routed in accordance the placing and synthesizing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 29, 2016
    Date of Patent: July 14, 2020
    Assignee: The Regents of the University of California
    Inventors: Andrew B. Kahng, Kwangsoo Han, Jiajia Li
  • Patent number: 10705949
    Abstract: A method for evaluating a test suite for a software library includes generating a mutated software library by adding a fault to the software library, while the software library is used by a testing tool to evaluate a test suite. The method further includes loading the mutated software library, then executing a test in the test suite on the mutated software library to obtain a test result. The method further includes analyzing the test result.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 3, 2017
    Date of Patent: July 7, 2020
    Assignee: Oracle International Corporation
    Inventors: Padmanabhan Krishnan, Rebecca O'Donoghue, Jerome Loh
  • Patent number: 10685167
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a computer-implemented method for use in design for manufacturing associated with a die or package. Embodiments may include providing, using a processor, an electronic design and displaying, at a graphical user interface, at least a portion of a layout associated with the electronic design. Embodiments may also include determining an expected thermal or centrifuge force manufacturing variation associated with the electronic design. Embodiments may further include allowing a user to insert, at the graphical user interface prior to signoff, a copper pillar bump or solder bump on at least a portion of the layout based upon, at least in part, the determined expected thermal or centrifuge force manufacturing variation. Embodiments may further include displaying the copper pillar bump or the solder bump on the layout at the graphical user interface.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 30, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 16, 2020
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Jean-François Alain Lepère, Arnold Ginetti
  • Patent number: 10671506
    Abstract: Pre-silicon fairness evaluation to detect fairness issues pre-silicon. Drivers drive a plurality of commands on one or more interfaces of a device under test to test the device under test. State associated with the device under test is checked. Based on the state, a determination is made as to whether the drivers are to continue driving commands against the device under test. Based on determining that the drivers are to continue driving the commands, a further determination is made as to whether a predefined limit has been reached. Based on determining the predefined limit has been reached, ending the test of the device under test in which the test fails.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: June 2, 2020
    Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION
    Inventors: Dean G. Bair, Rebecca M. Gott, Edward J. Kaminski, Jr., William J. Lewis
  • Patent number: 10664249
    Abstract: The generation of reversible circuits from high-level code is desirable in a variety of application domains, including low-power electronics and quantum computing. However, little effort has been spent on verifying the correctness of the results, an issue of particular importance in quantum computing where such circuits are run on all inputs simultaneously. Disclosed herein are example reversible circuit compilers as well as tools and techniques for verifying the compilers. Example compilers disclosed herein compile a high-level language into combinational reversible circuits having a reduced number of ancillary bits (ancilla bits) and further having provably clean temporary values.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 3, 2016
    Date of Patent: May 26, 2020
    Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC
    Inventors: Matthew Amy, Martin Roetteler, Krysta Svore
  • Patent number: 10635768
    Abstract: The present disclosure relates to a method for electronic design. Embodiments may include receiving, using a processor, an electronic design and performing formal verification upon at least a portion of the electronic design for a specific problem statement. Embodiments may further include generating a plurality of traces associated with the formal verification satisfying the specific problem statement and displaying, at a graphical user interface, an option to select at least one of the plurality of traces for display at the graphical user interface while the formal verification is performed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 26, 2018
    Date of Patent: April 28, 2020
    Assignee: Cadence Design Systems, Inc.
    Inventors: Thiago Radicchi Roque, Chien-Liang Lin, Guilherme Henrique de Sousa Santos, Chung-Wah Norris Ip