Method for incorporating miller capacitance effects in digital circuits for an accurate timing analysis

Abstract

A method for performing a static timing analysis on a circuit that includes gates and their respective interconnects by incorporating the effect of Miller capacitance on timing. A primitive gate is selected with its respective fan-out gates, interconnects attached to the primitive gate's output and interconnects attached to the output of each respective fan-out gate are determined. Using a metric, it is determined if the Miller capacitance effect of a CMOS gate on timing of its fan-out gate and interconnect timing is significant for each fan-out gate. If yes, the gate is replaced with a nonlinear driver model. If no, the gate is replaced with a fixed or dynamic capacitance. Next, if at least one of the fan-out gates is replaced with the nonlinear driver model, the primitive gate is likewise replaced with its corresponding nonlinear model as well. Then, a nonlinear timing simulation is performed on the circuit to generate voltage waveforms at the output of the primitive gate and the input of its fan-out gates that incorporate the effect of the Miller capacitance. However, if none of the fan-out gates are replaced with the nonlinear driver model, a conventional gate and interconnect timing analysis is preferably performed.