Information theoretic subgraph caching
Granted: October 11, 2022
Patent Number:
11468218
Computer-implemented techniques are disclosed for verifying circuit designs using subgraph caching. A device under test (DUT) is modeled as a graph. The graph is partitioned into one or more subgraphs and problems are generated for each subgraph. Graph and subgraph problem generation is repeated numerous times throughout the verification process. Problems and sub-problems are generated and solved. When a subgraph problem is solved, the problem's variables, values, and information can be…
Machine learning (ML)-based static verification for derived hardware-design elements
Granted: October 11, 2022
Patent Number:
11467851
Disclosed herein are system, computer-readable storage medium, and method embodiments of machine-learning (ML)-based static verification for derived hardware-design elements. A system including at least one processor may be configured to extract a feature set from a hardware description and evaluate a similarity index of a first hardware element with respect to a second hardware element, using an ML process based on the feature set, wherein the first hardware element is described in the…
Glitch analysis and glitch power estimation system
Granted: October 4, 2022
Patent Number:
11461523
A method for performing glitch power analysis of a circuit, comprising receiving no-timing waveform simulation data for the circuit, the waveform simulation data including a first signal, and identifying a delayed stimulus injection point (DSIP) for the first signal. The method further comprises determining a total delay for the first signal and performing waveform replay simulation including injecting the first signal at the DSIP at a time based on the total delay for the first signal.
Method to perform secondary-PG aware buffering in IC design flow
Granted: September 20, 2022
Patent Number:
11449660
A system to generate a design of an integrated circuit, the system comprising a memory and a processor, the processor to define a plurality of voltage area regions (VARs), based on an availability of one or more of a primary power source and one or more secondary power sources. The processor further to constrain placement and/or routing of an element in the design of the integrated circuit within a voltage area region of the plurality of voltage area regions defined by secondary…
Lithography-based pattern optimization
Granted: September 20, 2022
Patent Number:
11449659
An example is a method. An electronic representation of a design of an integrated circuit to be manufactured on a semiconductor die is obtained. The design of the integrated circuit includes layers. The electronic representation includes initial polygons. Polygon topological skeletons of the initial polygons of the target layer are generated. A space topological skeleton in a space between the polygon topological skeletons is generated. A connected network comprising network edges is…
Defect weight formulas for analog defect simulation
Granted: September 13, 2022
Patent Number:
11443092
A method, apparatus, and/or computer program product can perform an analog defect simulation on an electronic device. The method, apparatus, and/or computer program product can generate a defect catalog which identifies a defect class relating to a defect and a modeling parameter that is associated with the defect class. The method, apparatus, and/or computer program product can receive a weight formula that identifies a weight for the defect class in relation to the modeling parameter.…
System and method for power analysis for design logic circuit with irregular clock
Granted: September 13, 2022
Patent Number:
11443087
A system is disclosed that includes a memory and a processor configured to perform operations stored in the memory. The processor performs the operations to select a master clock for a plurality of clocks in a design logic circuit. The processor further performs the operations to align a clock edge of a clock of the plurality of clocks with a corresponding nearest clock transition of the master clock. The aligned clock edge of the clock limits a number of emulation cycles for the design…
Event-level parallel simulation using dynamic synchronization
Granted: May 10, 2022
Patent Number:
11327790
The independent claims of this patent signify a concise description of embodiments. A method is provided for parallel simulation using synchronization during simulation. The method comprises executing a plurality of threads in parallel, identifying a first event block and a second event block of a circuit design, calculating a minimum delay (minDelay) based on a current simulation time, scheduled times for execution of the first event block and the second event block, and causal delays…
Parallel plate capacitor resistance modeling and extraction
Granted: May 10, 2022
Patent Number:
11328873
A parallel plate capacitor structure in an integrated circuit has a first plate and a second plate separated by an insulator, such as a dielectric. Both plates are connected to an interconnect structure at a plurality of connection points. The area of the first plate that overlaps with the second plate is identified. This overlap region does not include any connection points on the first plate. For this overlap region, the lumped element model for the first plate includes nodes on the…
Refining multi-bit flip flops mapping without explicit de-banking and re-banking
Granted: May 10, 2022
Patent Number:
11328109
Refining multi-bit flip flops mapping without explicit de-banking and re-banking is provided by identifying a set of equivalent flops in a layout, that include a first flop having a first logic routing and a first location in the layout and a second flop having a second logic routing and a second location in the layout; and remapping the first logic of the first flop from the first location to the second location and the second logic of the second flop from the second location to the…
Parallel port enablement in pseudo-dual-port memory designs
Granted: April 26, 2022
Patent Number:
11315630
A pseudo-dual-port memory (PDPM) is disclosed that includes a first memory array bank and a second memory array bank of a plurality of memory array banks. The PDPM also includes parallel pin control logic circuitry configured to perform operations including taking a clock signal, a memory enable signal for a first port, a memory enable signal for a second port, a parallel pin control signal, and address signals for the first and the second memory array banks as inputs and generating a…
Lithography improvement based on defect probability distributions and critical dimension variations
Granted: April 26, 2022
Patent Number:
11314171
Certain aspects relate to a method for improving a lithography configuration. In the lithography configuration, a source illuminates a mask to expose resist on a wafer. A processor determines a defect-based focus exposure window (FEW). The defect-based FEW is an area of depth of focus and exposure latitude for the lithography configuration with an acceptable level of defects on the wafer. The defect-based FEW is determined based on a predicted probability distribution for occurrence of…
Partitioning in post-layout circuit simulation
Granted: April 19, 2022
Patent Number:
11308253
The independent claims of this patent signify a concise description of embodiments. New techniques for the partitioning of big element blocks in a circuit are disclosed. The techniques partition both pre-layout and post-layout circuits. If a post-layout circuit has different simulation results from a pre-layout circuit, the techniques determine where and how “cross-talk” of the RC networks due to RC extraction is changing the circuit physics behavior from the original design of the…
Area efficient and high-performance wordline segmented architecture
Granted: April 12, 2022
Patent Number:
11302365
A memory array including a plurality of memory cells and a plurality of drivers is disclosed. The plurality of memory cells may be arranged in a plurality of rows and a plurality of columns. Memory cells corresponding to a row of the plurality of rows may be logically grouped into a plurality of memory array segments. The plurality of drivers may be coupled to corresponding first ends of corresponding memory array segments of the plurality of memory array segments. Second ends of the…
Feasibility analysis of engineering change orders
Granted: April 12, 2022
Patent Number:
11301614
An existing design of an integrated circuit includes existing cells that have already been placed and routed. An engineering change order (ECO) specifies additional new cells (ECO cells) to be inserted into the existing design. The ECO cells are also associated with target locations for their placement among the existing cells, but these target locations may violate design rules. The feasibility of “legalizing” the placement of the ECO cells within the existing design is assessed as…
Save and restore register
Granted: April 12, 2022
Patent Number:
11300614
A save and restore (SR) register system is disclosed. Some embodiments include a first memory state element (MSE), a second MSE, and a control circuit. The first MSE is configured to: clock in a first data value during a normal mode and hold the first data value during a first testing mode; and clock in a first test sequence during a second testing mode. The second MSE is configured to: clock in the first data value during the normal mode; and clock in a second test sequence during the…
Time correlation in hybrid emulation system
Granted: April 5, 2022
Patent Number:
11295052
A hybrid emulation system includes a hardware emulation system, a simulation system, and a co-simulation interface. The hardware emulation system emulates a first portion of a design under test (DUT) during a hybrid emulation. The emulation runs in a first time domain local to the hardware emulation system. The simulation system simulates a second portion of the DUT during the hybrid emulation. The simulation runs in a second time domain local to the simulation system. The first time…
Analyzing delay variations and transition time variations for electronic circuits
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11288426
A system receives a circuit description and measures of intrinsic delay, intrinsic delay variation, transition time and transition time variation for each stage and determines stage delay variation of each stage. The system receives a circuit description and derate factors and determines an intrinsic delay standard deviation and a correlation coefficient. The system determines a stage delay variation of each stage based on the determined factors. The system receives parameters describing…
Integrated circuit design modification for localization of scan chain defects
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11288428
An integrated circuit (IC) design comprising a scan chain may be received, where stimulus values may be scanned-in and response values may be scanned-out through a scan path in the scan chain, where the scan path may include a first scan cell and a second scan cell such that the first scan cell is downstream with respect to the second scan cell. The scan chain may be modified to enable observation of a 0 and a 1 value in the first scan cell in presence of a defect in the second scan…
Automated root-cause analysis, visualization, and debugging of static verification results
Granted: March 29, 2022
Patent Number:
11288427
Disclosed herein are system, method, and computer-readable storage device embodiments for implementing automated root-cause analysis for static verification. An embodiment includes a system with memory and processor(s) configured to receive a report comprising violations and debug fields, and accept a selection of a seed debug field from among the plurality of debug fields. Clone violations may be generated by calculating an overlay of a given violation of the violations and a seed debug…
