GENERATING AN INSTANCE-BASED REPRESENTATION OF A DESIGN HIERARCHY
First Claim
1. A method for generating an instance-based representation of a set of geometrical features that comprise a layout of a circuit on a semiconductor chip, comprising:
- receiving a design hierarchy specifying the layout of the circuit, including a set of hierarchically-organized nodes;
wherein a given node in the design hierarchy specifies a geometrical feature that is comprised of lower-level geometrical features that are represented by lower-level nodes that appear under the given node in the design hierarchy;
wherein the layout of the given node in the design hierarchy is specified by a first cell that specifies the layout of one or more nodes in the design hierarchy;
for each node within the design hierarchy, determining how interactions with the node'"'"'s siblings change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, determining how environmental attributes specified by a parent of the node change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, and if the changes result in a new node for which no instance has been created, creating a new instance for the node.
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Accused Products
Abstract
One embodiment of the invention provides a system for generating an instance-based representation of a set of geometrical features that comprise a layout of a circuit on a semiconductor chip. This system operates by receiving a design hierarchy specifying the layout of the circuit, wherein the design hierarchy includes a set of hierarchically organized nodes. Within this design hierarchy, a given node specifies a geometrical feature, which can be comprised of lower-level geometrical features. These lower-level geometrical features are represented by lower-level nodes that appear under the given node in the design hierarchy. Furthermore, the layout of the given node is specified by a first cell, which in turn specifies the layout of one or more nodes in the design hierarchy. For each node within the design hierarchy, the system determines how interactions with the node'"'"'s siblings and/or parent, and possibly other surrounding geometries, change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell. If the changes result in a new node for which no instance has been created, the system creates a new instance for the node.
69 Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method for generating an instance-based representation of a set of geometrical features that comprise a layout of a circuit on a semiconductor chip, comprising:
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receiving a design hierarchy specifying the layout of the circuit, including a set of hierarchically-organized nodes;
wherein a given node in the design hierarchy specifies a geometrical feature that is comprised of lower-level geometrical features that are represented by lower-level nodes that appear under the given node in the design hierarchy;
wherein the layout of the given node in the design hierarchy is specified by a first cell that specifies the layout of one or more nodes in the design hierarchy;
for each node within the design hierarchy, determining how interactions with the node'"'"'s siblings change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, determining how environmental attributes specified by a parent of the node change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, and if the changes result in a new node for which no instance has been created, creating a new instance for the node. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for generating an instance-based representation of a set of geometrical features that comprise a layout of a circuit on a semiconductor chip, the method comprising:
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receiving a design hierarchy specifying the layout of the circuit, including a set of hierarchically-organized nodes;
wherein a given node in the design hierarchy specifies a geometrical feature that is comprised of lower-level geometrical features that are represented by lower-level nodes that appear under the given node in the design hierarchy;
wherein the layout of the given node in the design hierarchy is specified by a first cell that specifies the layout of one or more nodes in the design hierarchy;
for each node within the design hierarchy, determining how interactions with the node'"'"'s siblings change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, determining how environmental attributes specified by a parent of the node change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, and if the changes result in a new node for which no instance has been created, creating a new instance for the node. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27)
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19. An apparatus that generates an instance-based representation of a set of geometrical features that comprise a layout of a circuit on a semiconductor chip, comprising:
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a receiving mechanism that is configured to receive a design hierarchy specifying the layout of the circuit, including a set of hierarchically-organized nodes;
wherein a given node in the design hierarchy specifies a geometrical feature that is comprised of lower-level geometrical features that are represented by lower-level nodes that appear under the given node in the design hierarchy;
wherein the layout of the given node in the design hierarchy is specified by a first cell that specifies the layout of one or more nodes in the design hierarchy;
a instance generator, wherein for each node in the design hierarchy, the instance generator is configured to;
determine how interactions with the node'"'"'s siblings change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, determine how environmental attributes specified by a parent of the node change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, and to create a new instance for the node if the changes result in a new node for which no instance has been created.
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28. A means for generating an instance-based representation of a set of geometrical features that comprise a layout of a circuit on a semiconductor chip, comprising:
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a receiving means for receiving a design hierarchy specifying the layout of the circuit, including a set of hierarchically-organized nodes;
wherein a given node in the design hierarchy specifies a geometrical feature that is comprised of lower-level geometrical features that are represented by lower-level nodes that appear under the given node in the design hierarchy;
wherein the layout of the given node in the design hierarchy is specified by a first cell that specifies the layout of one or more nodes in the design hierarchy;
an instance generation means, wherein for each node in the design hierarchy, the instance generation means, determines how interactions with the node'"'"'s siblings change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, determines how environmental attributes specified by a parent of the node change the layout of the node as specified by the first cell, and creates a new instance for the node, if the changes result in a new node for which no instance has been created.
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Specification