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:
Mar. 24, 2009
Filed:
Jan. 13, 2006
Applicant:
Gerald L. Frenkil, Concord, MA (US);
Inventor:
Gerald L. Frenkil, Concord, MA (US);
Assignee:
Sequence Design, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (US);
Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G06F 17/50 (2006.01); H03K 19/20 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
Abstract
A method and a structure provide a space efficient integrated circuit using standard cells and power gating by switch cells. The standard cells may be tapless, i.e., not provided a substrate connection to a power supply or ground rail by a tap within the cell. The substrate connection for these standard cells may be provided by the switch cells or by specialized tap cells. The tapless standard cells may include only a context-sensitive rail, which may be configured to be a virtual ground rail by a power gating connection to a switch cell or by a direct connection to a power supply or ground rail.