IC CHIP DESIGN MODELING USING PERIMETER DENSITY TO ELECTRICAL CHARACTERISTIC CORRELATION

• US 20090210834A1
• Filed: 02/15/2008
• Published: 08/20/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/15/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Culp, James A., Chadwick, Laura S., Polson, Anthony D.
• Granted Patent: US 7,805,693 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/106
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/398 Design verification or optimisation, e.g. using design rule check [DRC], layout versus schematics [LVS] or finite element methods [FEM] optical proximity correction [OPC] design processes G03F1/36

Abstract

IC chip design modeling using perimeter density to an electrical characteristic correlation is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method may include determining a perimeter density of conductive structure within each region of a plurality of regions of an integrated circuit (IC) chip design; correlating a measured electrical characteristic within a respective region of an IC chip that is based on the IC chip design to the perimeter density; and modeling the IC chip design based on the correlation.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

determining a perimeter density of conductive structure within each region of a plurality of regions of an integrated circuit (IC) chip design;

correlating a measured electrical characteristic within a respective region of an IC chip that is based on the IC chip design to the perimeter density; and

modeling the IC chip design based on the correlation.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a visual representation of the perimeter density.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising generating a visual representation of the perimeter density compared to the electrical characteristic.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the measured electrical characteristic is measured using a performance screen ring oscillator (PSRO) in a respective region of the IC chip.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the perimeter density determining includes:

determining the perimeter density in successively larger radii about a center of the respective region, wherein the center is a location where the measured electrical characteristic is measured.

6. A system comprising:

means for determining a perimeter density of conductive structure within each region of a plurality of regions of an integrated circuit (IC) chip design;

means for correlating a measured electrical characteristic within a respective region of an IC chip that is based on the IC chip design to the perimeter density; and

means for modeling the IC chip design based on the correlation.

7. The system of claim 6, further comprising means for generating a visual representation of the perimeter density.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising means for generating a visual representation of the perimeter density compared to the electrical characteristic.

9. The system of claim 6, further comprising an electrical characteristic measuring means including a performance screen ring oscillator (PSRO) in a respective region of the IC chip.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the perimeter density determining means determines the perimeter density in successively larger radii about a center of the respective region, wherein the center is a location where the measured electrical characteristic is measured.

11. A program product stored on a computer-readable medium, which when executed, models an integrated circuit (IC) chip design, the program product comprising:

program code for determining a perimeter density of conductive structure within each region of a plurality of regions of the IC chip design;

program code for correlating a measured electrical characteristic within a respective region of an IC chip that is based on the IC chip design to the perimeter density; and

program code for modeling the IC chip design based on the correlation.

12. The program product of claim 11, further comprising program code for generating a visual representation of the perimeter density.

13. The program product of claim 11, further comprising program code for generating a visual representation of the perimeter density compared to the electrical characteristic.

14. The program product of claim 11, further comprising electrical characteristic measuring code that uses a performance screen ring oscillator (PSRO) in a respective region of the IC chip.

15. The program product of claim 11, wherein the perimeter density determining code determines the perimeter density in successively larger radii about a center of the respective region, wherein the center is the location of the electrical characteristic measurement.