Lattice Semiconductor Corporation

Christopher D Gorsuch

John Schadt

Anthony K Myers

Brian W Yeager

Oscar G Mercado

Jay H Angle

Craig Bingert

Antenna errors are corrected in an integrated circuit design utilizing spare gates distributed throughout the integrated circuit. An integrated circuit in accordance with the invention includes standard cells interspersed with spare gates. For example, the circuit may include one or more rows of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells, or islands of spare gates arranged between groups of rows of standard cells. A signal line of the integrated circuit having a detected antenna error associated therewith is coupled via one or more conductors associated with at least one metal layer of the integrated circuit to a diode or other antenna error control circuitry formed using at least one of the spare gates. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool. The coupling of the signal line having the detected antenna error associated therewith to the antenna error control circuitry formed using at least one of the spare gates is preferably determined as part of a routing operation of the automated place and route process of the standard cell CAD tool. The spare gates are preferably implemented as spare gate cells using a base transistor structure compatible with the standard cell CAD tool.

Integrated circuit and associated design method with antenna error control using spare gates

An integrated circuit includes standard cells interspersed with islands of spare gates. The spare gates are arranged in multiple groups of spare gates, with each group of spare gates within a corresponding designated spare gate area of a standard cell portion of the integrated circuit. At least a given one of the groups of spare gates is arranged between first and second rows of the standard cells and includes one or more rows of spare gates. The spare gate islands may be distributed throughout the standard cell portion of the integrated circuit in a substantially uniform manner, for example, in accordance with a predetermined geometric pattern. The spare gates may be converted to active gates in conjunction with the automated place and route process using only conductors in one or more metal layers of the integrated circuit.

Integrated circuit and associated design method using spare gate islands

An integrated circuit includes standard cells interspersed with islands of spare gates. The spare gates are arranged in multiple groups of spare gates, with each group of spare gates within a corresponding designated spare gate area of a standard cell portion of the integrated circuit. At least a given one of the groups of spare gates is arranged between first and second rows of the standard cells and includes one or more rows of spare gates, with each row of spare gates including multiple base transistor structures arranged adjacent to one another along longitudinal dimensions of the structures. The standard cells and spare gates are preferably placed in accordance with a placement operation of an automated place and route process of a standard cell computer-aided design (CAD) tool. The spare gates may be implemented using a base transistor structure compatible with the standard cell CAD tool. The spare gate islands may be distributed throughout the standard cell portion of the integrated circuit in a substantially uniform manner, for example, in accordance with a predetermined geometric pattern. The spare gates may be converted to active gates in conjunction with the automated place and route process using only conductors in one or more metal layers of the integrated circuit.

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Walnutport, PA, United States of America

Christopher D Gorsuch