Cadence Design Systems, Inc.

Anova Solutions, Inc.

Hsien-Yen Chiu

Jun Li

Hong Zhao

Athanasius Spyrou

Meiling Wang

An Integrated Circuit Design tool incorporating a Stochastic Analysis Process ('SAP') is described. The SAP can be applied on many levels of circuit components including transistor devices, logic gate devices, and System-on-Chip or chip designs. The SAP replaces the large number of traditional Monte Carlo simulations with operations using a small number of sampling points or corners. The SAP is a hierarchical approach using a model fitting process to generate a model that can be used with any number of performance metrics to generate performance variation predictions along with corresponding statistical information (e.g., mean, three-sigma probability, etc.). A hierarchical SAP process breaks an overall circuit into a plurality of subcircuits and performs circuit simulation and SAP analysis steps on each subcircuit. An integration and reduction process combines the analysis results of each subcircuit, and a final SPICE/SAP process provides a model for the overall circuit based on the subcircuits.

Hierarchical stochastic analysis process optimization for integrated circuit design and manufacture

Disclosed is an improved approach for performing crosstalk and signal integrity analysis in which multiple variables are taken into account when analyzing the effects of on-chip crosstalk, such as for example coupled wire length, ratio of coupling capacitance, and aggressor and victim driver types. Rather than performing a full-chip simulation, the potential crosstalk effects can be pre-characterized by performing simulation/modeling over specific net portions by systematically changing the values of these multiple variables. A set of patterns characterized from the variables are formed from the modeling. During the analysis process, the IC design is checked of the presence of the patterns, from which is produced the expected delay impact for crosstalk in the design.

Method and system for performing crosstalk analysis

An Integrated Circuit Design tool incorporating a Stochastic Analysis Process ('SAP') is described. The SAP can be applied on many levels of circuit components including transistor devices, logic gate devices, and System-on-Chip or chip designs. The SAP replaces a large number of traditional Monte Carlo simulations with operations using a small number of sampling points or corners. The SAP is a hierarchical approach using a model fitting process to generate a model that can be used with any number of performance memos to generate performance variation predictions along with corresponding statistical information (e.g., mean, three-sigma probability, etc.). The SAP provides an efficient way of modeling the circuit or system variation due to global parameters such as device dimensions, interconnect wiring variations, economic variations, and manufacturing variations.

Stochastic analysis process optimization for integrated circuit design and manufacture

Disclosed is an improved approach for performing crosstalk and signal integrity analysis in which multiple variables are taken into account when analyzing the effects of on-chip crosstalk, such as for example coupled wire length, ration of coupling capacitance, and aggressor and victim driver types. Rather than performing a full-chip simulation, the potential crosstalk effects can be pre-characterized by performing simulation/modeling over specific net portions by systematically changing the values of these multiple variables. A set of patterns characterized from the variables are formed from the modeling. During the analysis process, the IC design is checked of the presence of the patterns, from which is produced the expected delay impact for crosstalk in the design.

A variable current source model accurately determines timing delays for designs of circuits implemented in integrated circuits. A design for an integrated circuit specifies a resistive-capacitive (&ldquo;RC&rdquo;) network. The RC network couples a driving point and a receiving point, and a circuit specified in the design, drives the RC network at the driving point. The variable current source model determines driving currents for the circuit at the driving point based on the RC network and a characterization model of the circuit. A timing delay between the driving point and the receiving point is determined by simulating the drive of the RC network with the driving current at the driving point.

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San Jose, CA, United States of America

Hsien-Yen Chiu