Abstract
Having presented fabrication technology for IC chips in Chap. 2, we now investigate in detail an important aspect of the physical design process: data interfaces. We introduce circuit, layout and mask data structures, that is, the main input and output data in the design steps, in this chapter. First, we explain the input to physical design—circuit data—while focusing on schematics and netlists (Sect. 3.1); we then discuss the output of the physical design step: layout data such as layers and polygons (Sect. 3.2). Mask data, which are the data required by the foundry and generated at the end of the design process, are described in Sect. 3.3. Here, we introduce “layout post processing”, where amendments and additions to the chip layout data are performed in order to convert a physical layout into data for mask production. Technology data, provided by the chip manufacturing foundry, are crucial for producing the physical design. An important portion of these data are technological constraints which are modeled in the geometrical design rules used in physical design. Essentially, geometrical design rules are constraints for physical design, whose compliance ensures the manufacturability of the layout results. Geometrical design rules are presented in detail in Sect. 3.4. Technology data are organized in libraries. These libraries, which are extensively used in IC and PCB design, are covered in our final Sect. 3.5.
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Notes
- 1.
Acute angles are often not allowed in layouts because the edges in question are treated as being “opposite” by DRC tools and are flagged as width rule violations. Even if this is not a problem for fabrication, these cases should be avoided to minimize the work involved in evaluating a DRC.
- 2.
Besides making contact within the enclosure via bonding wires, other contacting methods are also available. We will not dwell on these other options at this point in order to keep our treatise simple.
- 3.
Flip flops and latches are circuit elements with a memory/storage function. This memory function is needed in most digital systems because the output often not only depends on the current inputs (as in combinatorial networks), but also on the previous input(s) and output(s) which determine the state of a system.
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Lienig, J., Scheible, J. (2020). Bridges to Technology: Interfaces, Design Rules, and Libraries. In: Fundamentals of Layout Design for Electronic Circuits. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39284-0_3
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