Method and apparatus for determining signal line interconnect widths to ensure electromigration reliability

摘要

A method for designing and fabricating an integrated circuit is disclosed. Signal line interconnect widths are determined by performing an electromigration analysis on a trial layout of the integrated circuit. A representative circuit for an integrated circuit is designed and a trial layout is created that includes a plurality of nets. A preprocessor 505 eliminates nets that do not need further validation. An extraction process 510 generates an RC network representation of each remaining net that is to be validated to form a distributed load simulation model. Distributed capacitance and resistance of signal lines is included with load capacitance of receivers to provide an accurate profile of current flow. A profile of current flowing in the signal line of each net is determined by simulating the operation of each net using simulator 517. Peak current, RMS current and average current is determined. Post processor 520 determines if electromigration parameters are violated based on the current profile determined for each net. Widths for various segments of signal lines in the various nets are selected to be greater than or equal to a minimum width determined by post processor 520.