INTEGRATED CIRCUIT HAVING TAP CELL AND METHOD OF ARRANGING TAP CELL IN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a means for designing a compact integrated circuit at a lower cost. SOLUTION: An integrated circuit has a set of standard cells 10 called tap cells. Each of the tap cells has a well tap 28 and a substrate tap 32 respectively for connection of a well region 18 to a power supply and a substrate region 20 to the ground. The tap cells 10 are arranged with an interval 26, that does not exceed a maximum allowable distance specified by a set of design rules associated with the integrated circuit. The method for designing the integrated circuit includes a step (80) of determining the positions of the tap cells and a step (100) of forming a design layout for the integrated circuit, using an arrangement for building the positions in and a path-designating tool.