Promoting efficient cell usage to boost QoR in automated design

摘要

A method of designing integrated circuits includes forming a restricted cell library from a first cell library by selecting only those cells in the first cell library that are most efficient according to predetermined efficiency criteria and executing an integrated circuit design operation in an electronic design automation program while directing the electronic design automation program to make cell selections exclusively from the restricted cell library. The integrated circuit design operation is one that can be directed to make cell selections from any of the cells in the first cell library without changing its essential purpose. The method improves QoR for the resulting circuit design.

主权项

1. A method of designing an integrated circuit, comprising:
forming by at least one processor a first restricted cell library from a cell library stored on a non-transitory computer readable medium by selecting only those cells in the cell library that are most efficient according to a first predetermined efficiency criteria, wherein forming the first restricted cell library from the cell library comprises:
dividing the cells in the cell library into groups such that each cell in a group has the same function;placing the cells in bins within a matrix having one or more dimensions, each dimension of the matrix corresponding to a discrete efficiency metric, and each index value for the dimension corresponding to a discrete range of values for the discrete efficiency metric; andselecting the cells from some but not all of the occupied bins for inclusion in the first restricted cell library; executing by the at least one processor an integrated circuit design operation in an electronic design automation program while directing the electronic design automation program to make cell selections exclusively from the first restricted cell library; and manufacturing a final integrated circuit design resulting from the integrated circuit design operation; wherein the integrated circuit design operation is selectively configured to make the cell selections from any of the cells in the first restricted cell library during its execution.