Motorola Corporation

Patrick T Hickman

Douglas W Schucker

Stephen W Lai

Jarvis Tou

A core cell (10) for a gate array circuit has been provided. The core cell has a transistor layout that facilitates efficient memory circuit design within the gate array. The core cell includes a first (14-22) and second (23-31) plurality of transistors of a first conductivity type, and a third plurality (52-63) of transistors of a second conductivity type wherein the third plurality of transistors are positioned between the first and second plurality of transistors. The third plurality of transistors having transistors of a first and second size wherein at least two transistors of the second size of the third plurality of transistors includes a common gate connection.

Memory efficient gate array cell

A block architected integrated circuit having predetermined power and signal grid structures is provided. The integrated circuit includes a plurality of function blocks such as firm function blocks, standard cell logic blocks, and gate array logic blocks which are all designed according to the power and signal grid structures of the integrated circuit and from standard library elements of the base cell array. These function blocks have full floating capability with respect to the granularity of the power and signal grid structures. The integrated circuit also includes one or more hard function blocks which are not designed according to the power or signal grid structures of the integrated circuit. Further, the integrated circuit may also include one or more blocks which are designed from a different technology than the base cell array of the integrated circuit and, thus are also not designed according to the power or signal grid structures of the integrated circuit. As a result, these blocks must be adapted to readily fit within the power and signal grid structures of the integrated circuit. However, once adapted, these blocks also have full floating capability with respect to the granularity of the power and signal grid structures.

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Chandler, AZ, United States of America

Patrick T Hickman