Interconnect-aware integrated circuit design

Abstract

In a systemfor designing an integrated circuit, a preliminary design of the integrated circuit is defined and critical interconnect lines in the preliminary design are identified. Further, any critical interconnect lines which are affected by crossing lines in the preliminary design are identified, and a transmission line modelis defined to represent each critical interconnect line. A layout design of the integrated circuit, comprising circuit components and parameters thereof, is then defined using the preliminary design and the transmission line modelfor each critical interconnect line. Component parameters are then extracted from the layout design for simulation of the design using the extracted component parameters. During this design process, for each transmission line modelrepresenting a critical interconnect line affected by a crossing line, an environment terminalis provided. The environment terminalcomprises a connection to the modelvia at least one circuit component representing the effect of the crossing line on the model. The environment terminalis connected to the appropriate crossing line in the integrated circuit design, whereby crossing line effects are accommodated in the design process.