Simulation model generation from a physical data base of a combinatorial circuit
First Claim
1. A method for generating a gate-level netlist for a macrocell simulation model from a physical layout of said macrocell, comprising the steps of:
- generating a circuit-level netlist from a physical layout of said macrocell;
identifying each true root present in said circuit-level netlist;
for each true root identified, identifying from said circuit-level netlist successive circuit nodes of a tree associated therewith;
for each of said successive circuit nodes of a tree, successively determining a respective Boolean equation based on circuit elements connected thereto, in accordance with a set of relationship rules pertinent to circuit elements of said macrocell and a set of logical value assignment definition rules, said identified circuit nodes including a set of output nodes; and
converting the Boolean equation for said set of output nodes into a gate-level netlist.
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Abstract
A design layout sequence for an application specific integrated circuit such as an ECL gate array includes a schematic capture step, which results in a logic netlist file, and a placement and routing step which results in a number of various files defining, for example bias drivers, I/O macros, and relationships between chip pads and I/O signals. The design layout sequence culminates in a physical data base file. To ensure a functional design, the designer'"'"'s work is simulated after both schematic capture and placement and routing using a library containing simulation models for each type of macrocell used in the design. The gate-level netlist component of the simulation models are created automatically in a computer-implemented technique that identifies each root in the combinatorial circuit, assigns each a logical value, and traverses the tree that originates from each identified root. As each tree is traversed, Boolean equations identifying the logical values at each node encountered are determined in accordance with a set of relationships pertinent to the standard circuit elements and a set of logic value assignment definitions. The resulting set of Boolean equations is used to construct the gate-level netlist that is incorporated into the simulation model of the macrocell.
168 Citations
11 Claims
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1. A method for generating a gate-level netlist for a macrocell simulation model from a physical layout of said macrocell, comprising the steps of:
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generating a circuit-level netlist from a physical layout of said macrocell; identifying each true root present in said circuit-level netlist; for each true root identified, identifying from said circuit-level netlist successive circuit nodes of a tree associated therewith; for each of said successive circuit nodes of a tree, successively determining a respective Boolean equation based on circuit elements connected thereto, in accordance with a set of relationship rules pertinent to circuit elements of said macrocell and a set of logical value assignment definition rules, said identified circuit nodes including a set of output nodes; and converting the Boolean equation for said set of output nodes into a gate-level netlist. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An apparatus for generating a gate-level netlist for a macrocell simulation model from a physical layout of said macrocell, comprising:
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a data storage device for storing a physical layout of said macrocell; means for generating a circuit-level netlist from said physical layout of said macrocell accessed from said data storage device; means for identifying each true root present in said circuit-level netlist; means for identifying from said circuit-level netlist, for each true root identified, successive circuit nodes of a tree associated therewith; means for successively determining, at each of said successive circuit nodes, a Boolean equation based on circuit elements connected thereto, in accordance with a set of relationship rules pertinent to circuit elements of said macrocell and a set of logical value assignment definition rules, said identified circuit nodes including a set of output nodes; and means for converting the Boolean equations for said set of output nodes into a gate-level netlist.
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Specification