IC layouts with at least one layer that has more than one preferred interconnect direction, and method and apparatus for generating such a layout
First Claim
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1. A region of an integrated-circuit (“
- IC”
) layout, the IC-layout region comprising a plurality of interconnect layers, wherein at least a particular layer has at least two preferred interconnect directions in that region, wherein in no part of the region on the particular layer are routes in either of the two preferred interconnect directions assessed a non-preferred direction routing penalty that results in one of the two preferred interconnect directions being more preferable than the other preferred interconnect direction.
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Abstract
Some embodiments of the invention provide a region of an integrated-circuit (“IC”) layout that has a plurality of interconnect layers, where at least one particular layer has more than one preferred interconnect direction. In some of these embodiments, the region has several interconnect layers that have more than one preferred wiring direction each.
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Citations
18 Claims
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1. A region of an integrated-circuit (“
- IC”
) layout, the IC-layout region comprising a plurality of interconnect layers, wherein at least a particular layer has at least two preferred interconnect directions in that region, wherein in no part of the region on the particular layer are routes in either of the two preferred interconnect directions assessed a non-preferred direction routing penalty that results in one of the two preferred interconnect directions being more preferable than the other preferred interconnect direction. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 12)
- IC”
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5. A region of an integrated-circuit (“
- IC”
) layout, the IC-layout region comprising a plurality of interconnect layers, wherein at least a particular layer has more than one preferred interconnect direction, wherein a plurality of interconnect lines are on the particular layer, wherein at most 70% of the interconnect lines on the particular layer are in the same preferred direction. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8, 9)
- IC”
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10. A method of routing nets in a region of an integrated-circuit layout, the region having a plurality of interconnect layers, the method comprising:
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a) receiving nets; b) defining routes for nets by using a wiring model that specifies at least two preferred wiring directions for a particular interconnect layer of the region, wherein in no part of the region on the particular layer are routes in either of the two preferred interconnect directions assessed a non-preferred direction routing penalty that results in one of the two preferred interconnect directions being more preferable than the other preferred interconnect direction. - View Dependent Claims (11, 13, 14)
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15. A computer readable medium comprising a computer program having executable code, the computer program for routing nets in a region of an integrated-circuit layout, the region having a plurality of interconnect layers, the computer program comprising sets of instructions for:
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a) receiving nets; b) defining routes for nets by using a wiring model that specifies at least two preferred wiring directions for a particular interconnect layer of the region, wherein in no part of the region on the particular layer are routes in either of the two preferred interconnect directions assessed a non-preferred direction routing penalty that results in one of the two preferred interconnect directions being more preferable than the other preferred interconnect direction. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18)
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Specification