Technology independent integrated circuit mask artwork generator
First Claim
1. A system for generating integrated circuit mask artwork from a schematic of an electrical circuit, said electrical circuit containing electrical components and connections between said components, said system comprising:
- artwork library database containing macros, each of which generate artwork for one of said electrical components of a particular technology type, wherein said components are identified by a component designator;
device generator means for defining the type of circuit to be executed and for executing the macro for that circuit independent of the component'"'"'s particular technology type;
means for defining relationships between said circuits, said relationships specifying desirable physical relationships between sets of related circuit components which influence their performance;
means for determining placement of said components on said artwork including means for determining placement groups, the groups consisting of groups of components with related placements based on said defined physical relationships;
means for arranging said components so as to optimize a predetermined parameter, the parameter being a function of the physical relationship between the components;
means for eliminating overlaps between said components by moving said groups as a whole wherein said defined relationships are preserved; and
means for routing the electrical connections between said placed components.
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Accused Products
Abstract
An integrated circuit mask artwork generator (10) is disclosed which can define relationships between individual components and which is also independent of the technology chosen. An artwork library database (58) is provided which contains macros each macro being capable of generating artwork for one of the electrical components of the particular technology type. A device generator (18) is provided for defining the type of circuit to be executed and for executing the macro for that circuit independent of the component'"'"'s particular technology type. A means for defining relationships between the circuits (16) is provided with the relationships specified desirable physical relationships between sets of related circuit components. In conjunction with the schematic this provides a schematic with relationship annotations (14). A means for determining placement of the components (20) is provided which includes a means for determining the placement groups where the groups consist of groups of components with related placements based on the defined relationships. In addition, the system (10) includes a means for arranging the components (20) so as to optimize a predetermined parameter. The means for determining placement ( 20) also eliminates overlaps between the components by moving the groups as a whole so as to preserve defined relationships. Finally, a router (22) routes the electrical connections between the placed components.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A system for generating integrated circuit mask artwork from a schematic of an electrical circuit, said electrical circuit containing electrical components and connections between said components, said system comprising:
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artwork library database containing macros, each of which generate artwork for one of said electrical components of a particular technology type, wherein said components are identified by a component designator; device generator means for defining the type of circuit to be executed and for executing the macro for that circuit independent of the component'"'"'s particular technology type; means for defining relationships between said circuits, said relationships specifying desirable physical relationships between sets of related circuit components which influence their performance; means for determining placement of said components on said artwork including means for determining placement groups, the groups consisting of groups of components with related placements based on said defined physical relationships; means for arranging said components so as to optimize a predetermined parameter, the parameter being a function of the physical relationship between the components; means for eliminating overlaps between said components by moving said groups as a whole wherein said defined relationships are preserved; and means for routing the electrical connections between said placed components. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A system for generating integrated circuit mask artwork from a schematic of an electrical circuit, said electrical circuit containing electrical components and connections between said components, said system comprising:
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artwork library database containing macros, each of which generate artwork for one of said electrical components of a particular technology type, wherein said components are identified by a component designator; device generator means for defining the type of circuit to be executed and for executing the macro for that circuit independent of the component'"'"'s particular technology type; means for defining relationships between said circuits, said relationships specifying matched and mirrored relationships between sets of related circuit components; means for determining placement of said components on said artwork including means for determining placement groups, the groups consisting of groups of components with related placements based on said defined relationships, means for building a connectivity matrix representing the cost of connecting each component with the other components to which its connected, said cost being a function of predetermined factors including connection length; means for ordering the components according to their connection costs; means for trying out various possible placements of said components starting with the components having the highest cost and arranging all other components at a position relative to that component, and their determining the total placement cost; means for repeating the arrangement of components starting with the next higher cost component in said ordering until the arrangement with the lowest total cost is determined; means for placing components within each placement group according to the weighted average of the coordinates of the placed objects to which it is connected to minimize the distance between said components within said group; means for arranging said components so as to optimize a predetermined parameter; means for eliminating overlaps between said components by moving said groups as a whole wherein said defined relationships are preserved; and means for routing the electrical connections between said placed components.
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8. A method for generating integrated circuit mask artwork from a schematic of an electrical circuit, said electrical circuit containing electrical components and connections between said components, said method comprising:
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generating an artwork library database containing macros, each of which generate artwork for one of said electrical components of a particular technology type, wherein said components are identified by a component designator; defining the type of circuit to be executed and executing the macro for that circuit independent of the component'"'"'s particular technology type; defining relationships between said circuits, said relationships specifying desirable physical relationships between sets of related circuit components which influence their performance; determining placement of said components on said artwork including the step of determining placement groups, the groups consisting of groups of components with related placements based on said defined physical relationships; arranging said components so as to optimize a predetermined parameter, the parameter being a function of the physical relationship between the components; eliminating overlaps between said components by moving said groups as a whole wherein said defined relationships are preserved; and routing the electrical connections between said placed components. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification