Efficiently using cell libraries with a large number of cells

摘要

Techniques for using subcell libraries allow efficient handling of a large number of cells. To improve design accuracy using cell libraries, very large cell libraries are needed. However, optimization tools are not able to use very large cell libraries directly, since their results suffer. Very large cell libraries are organized into sublibraries that are adapted to be processed by optimization tools. This allows improvement in the design quality of integrated circuits, while allowing the designs to be processed by optimization tools.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
providing a plurality of cells in a cell library; determining at least a first subset of cells of the plurality of cells in the cell library based on a first characteristic, wherein the characteristic comprises a logical functionality; using at least one computer processor, using a second characteristic to determine from the first subset at least a second subset of the plurality of cells in the cell library, wherein a distribution of the second subset is arranged in a grid comprising rows and columns, at least the row or column is based on the second characteristic, and at an intersection of each row and column is a cell using a third characteristic to determine from the second subset a third subset of the plurality of cells in the cell library, wherein the third characteristic is different from the second characteristic; and inputting to a cell-based synthesis engine the third subset, wherein the third subset comprises fewer cells than the cells in the cell library.