The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Oct. 28, 2008
Filed:
Apr. 12, 2005
Applicant:
Raja Selvaraj, Bangalore, IN;
Inventor:
Raja Selvaraj, Bangalore, IN;
Assignee:
Texas Instruments Incorporated, Dallas, TX (US);
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/50 (2006.01); H01L 23/52 (2006.01); H01L 23/528 (2006.01); H01L 23/525 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
Dummy stacks, each providing a common point of connectivity potentially across all metal layers, are incorporated along with the functional block in an integrated circuit. When the connectivity of elements of the functional block need to be changed later, the dummy stacks enable masks, which would otherwise need to be redesigned, to be further redesigned to obtain the desired connectivity. As a result, the redesign of some of the other masks, may be avoided, thereby reducing the total number of masks which would need to be redesigned while effecting a change in the connectivity of elements in a functional block.