Renesas Electronics Corporation

Tomohiro Kitayama

Mototsugu Okushima

Morihisa Hirata

Tetsuya Katou

Susumu Kobayashi

An ESD analysis method and computer program product are disclosed. A circuit simulation is executed of design data of a semiconductor integrated circuit including a first power supply pad, a second power supply pad and a plurality of current paths between the first power supply pad and the second power supply pad, to calculate potentials in the plurality of current paths, when one of an ESD current and an ESD voltage is applied between the first power supply pad and the second power supply pad. An ESD tolerance is checked by calculating a potential difference between a first node coupled to the first power supply pad and a second node coupled to the second power supply pad, based on the calculated potentials. The first node and the second node are determined as nodes to be coupled to a border cell upon the potential difference being lower than a predetermined value.

ESD analysis device and ESD analysis program used for designing semiconductor device and method of designing semiconductor device

An ESD (Electrostatic Discharge) analysis device includes: a circuit simulation unit; a border cell extraction unit; and a check unit. The circuit simulation unit executes a circuit simulation of design data of a semiconductor integrated circuit including a plurality of circuits of a plurality of power supply systems, to calculate potentials in a plurality of current paths between pads of different two of the plurality of power supply systems, when one of an ESD current and an ESD voltage is applied between the pads. The border cell extraction unit extracts border cells from circuits of the different two of the plurality of power supply systems, wherein the circuits are included in the plurality of circuits, the border cells input and/or output signals between the circuits. The check unit checks an ESD tolerance by calculating a potential difference between the border cells, based on the calculated potentials, the extracted border cells.

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Kanagawa, Japan

Tomohiro Kitayama