METHOD AND SYSTEM PERFORMING CIRCUIT DESIGN PREDICTIONS

• US 20090319976A1
• Filed: 06/23/2009
• Published: 12/24/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 06/24/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Incorporated (Cadence Group)
• Original Assignee: Cadence Design Systems Incorporated (Cadence Group)
• Inventors: Liu, Ming, Weng, JenPin, Smith, Taber
• Granted Patent: US 8,806,396 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 716/119
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 2119/18 Manufacturability analysis or optimisation for manufacturability
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/39 Circuit design at the physical level physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

Disclosed is a method, system, and computer program product for performing predictions for an electronic design. Embodiments of the invention allow the ability to efficiently update the model predictions at a later time once previously incomplete blocks are completed. Predictions can be efficiently updated after block designs are updated (e.g. after correcting problems detected from model predictions).

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for performing analysis upon an electronic design, comprising:

receiving design data for an electronic design and information about one or more models corresponding to a manufacturing process to be applied to manufacture the electronic design;

using a computer processor to perform model parameter extraction upon the design data to generate a set of results data, wherein the results data comprises a simplification of the design data, the results data being displayed to a user on a display device or stored in a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium in a data structure that is configured for the results data; and

passing the results data that comprises the simplification of the design data to be used to perform predictions of manufacturing effects for the electronic design for the manufacturing process, wherein the entirety of the design data is not passed to perform the predictions.

2. The method of claim 1 in which the design data comprises layout data that includes geometric information about the electronic design.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising performing hierarchical analysis upon the design data to identify and organize relationships between instances and cells in the electronic design.

4. The method of claim 1 in which the model parameter extraction comprises geometry extraction that identifies relevant geometric characteristics and parameters of portions of the electronic design.

5. The method of claim 4 in which the relevant geometric characteristics and parameters of portions of the electronic design comprises perimeter, density, and line width information.

6. The method of claim 1 in which the results data is extracted for each instance in the electronic design.

7. The method of claim 1 in which the results data is updated based upon modification made by the designer to portions of the electronic design, wherein the results data with updates can be used by a second designer to perform predictions.

8. The method of claim 1 applied to either engineering change orders (ECO) or design planning.

9. The method of claim 1 in which the prediction comprises CMP, lithography, etch, or electrical predictions.

10. The method of claim 1 in which the predictions are performed only for a portion of the electronic design that has changed.

11. The method of claim 1 in which estimation is performed for one or more portions of the electronic design for which there is insufficient geometric information.

12. The method of claim 1 in which the results data comprises combined information from separate design files or databases from users that do not have access to the design files or the databases operated by other users.

13. A computer program product embodied on a computer usable medium, the computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor causes the processor to execute a method for performing analysis upon an electronic design, the method comprising:

receiving design data for an electronic design and information about one or more models corresponding to a manufacturing process to be applied to manufacture the electronic design;

using a computer processor to perform model parameter extraction upon the design data to generate a set of results data, wherein the results data comprises a simplification of the design data, the results data being displayed to a user on a display device or stored in a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium in a data structure that is configured for the results data; and

passing the results data that comprises the simplification of the design data to be used to perform predictions of manufacturing effects for the electronic design for the manufacturing process, wherein the entirety of the design data is not passed to perform the predictions.

14. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the design data comprises layout data that includes geometric information about the electronic design.

15. The computer program product of claim 13 further comprising performing hierarchical analysis upon the design data to identify and organize relationships between instances and cells in the electronic design.

16. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the model parameter extraction comprises geometry extraction that identifies relevant geometric characteristics and parameters of portions of the electronic design.

17. The computer program product of claim 16 in which the relevant geometric characteristics and parameters of portions of the electronic design comprises perimeter, density, and line width information.

18. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the results data is extracted for each instance in the electronic design.

19. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the results data is updated based upon modification made by the designer to portions of the electronic design, wherein the results data with updates can be used by a second designer to perform predictions.

20. The computer program product of claim 13 applied to either engineering change orders (ECO) or design planning.

21. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the prediction comprises CMP, lithography, etch, or electrical predictions.

22. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the predictions are performed only for a portion of the electronic design that has changed.

23. The computer program product of claim 13 in which estimation is performed for one or more portions of the electronic design for which there is insufficient geometric information.

24. The computer program product of claim 13 in which the results data comprises combined information from separate design files or databases from users that do not have access to the design files or the databases operated by other users.

25. A system for performing analysis upon an electronic design, comprising:

a processor for executing computer program code;

a memory for holding the computer program code, the computer program code comprising instruction for receiving design data for an electronic design and information about one or more models corresponding to a manufacturing process to be applied to manufacture the electronic design, using the computer processor to perform model parameter extraction upon the design data to generate a set of results data, wherein the results data comprises a simplification of the design data, the results data being displayed to a user on a display device or stored in a volatile or nonvolatile storage medium in a data structure that is configured for the results data, and passing the results data that comprises the simplification of the design data to be used to perform predictions of manufacturing effects for the electronic design for the manufacturing process, wherein the entirety of the design data is not passed to perform the predictions.

26. The system of claim 25 in which the design data comprises layout data that includes geometric information about the electronic design.

27. The system of claim 25 in which the computer program code further comprises program code for performing hierarchical analysis upon the design data to identify and organize relationships between instances and cells in the electronic design.

28. The system of claim 25 in which the model parameter extraction comprises geometry extraction that identifies relevant geometric characteristics and parameters of portions of the electronic design.

29. The system of claim 28 in which the relevant geometric characteristics and parameters of portions of the electronic design comprises perimeter, density, and line width information.

30. The system of claim 25 in which the results data is extracted for each instance in the electronic design.

31. The system of claim 25 in which the results data is updated based upon modification made by the designer to portions of the electronic design, wherein the results data with updates can be used by a second designer to perform predictions.

32. The system of claim 25 applied to either engineering change orders (ECO) or design planning.

33. The system of claim 25 in which the prediction comprises CMP, lithography, etch, or electrical predictions.

34. The system of claim 25 in which the predictions are performed only for a portion of the electronic design that has changed.

35. The system of claim 25 in which estimation is performed for one or more portions of the electronic design for which there is insufficient geometric information.

36. The system of claim 25 in which the results data comprises combined information from separate design files or databases from users that do not have access to the design files or the databases operated by other users.