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Method and system for determining critical area for circuit layouts using voronoi diagrams

Patent 6178539 Issued on January 23, 2001. Estimated Expiration Date: Icon_subject September 17, 2018. Estimated Expiration Date is calculated based on simple USPTO term provisions. It does not account for terminal disclaimers, term adjustments, failure to pay maintenance fees, or other factors which might affect the term of a patent.

Patent References

Product wafer yield prediction method employing a unit cell approach
Patent #: 5773315
Issued on: 06/30/1998
Inventor: Jarvis

Method and system for automated die yield prediction in semiconductor manufacturing
Patent #: 5777901
Issued on: 07/07/1998
Inventor: Berezin, et al.

Incremental critical area computation for VLSI yield prediction
Patent #: 6044208
Issued on: 03/28/2000
Inventor: Papadopoulou, et al.

Property estimation of an integrated circuit Patent #: 6066179
Issued on: 05/23/2000
Inventor: Allan

Inventors

Application

No. 156069 filed on 09/17/1998

US Classes:

716/7, Partitioning (e.g., function block, ordering constraint)257/E21.525, Procedures, i.e., sequence of activities consisting of plurality of measurement and correction, marking or sorting steps (EPO)716/2, Optimization (e.g., redundancy, compaction)716/4, Testing or evaluating716/11Layout editor (e.g., updating)

Examiners

Primary: Lintz, Paul R.
Assistant: Thompson, Annette M.

Attorney, Agent or Firm

International Class

G06F 017/50

Abstract

A method for computing critical area for shorts of a layout, in accordance with the present invention, includes the steps of computing a Voronoi diagram for the layout, computing a second order Voronoi diagram to arrive at a partitioning of the layout into regions, computing critical area within each region and summing the critical areas to arrive at a total critical area for shorts in the layout. A system is also provided for calculating the critical area.

Other References

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  • P.-Y. Hsiao et al., A Sweeping Line Algorithm Based on Two-demensional Region Search, 1990 IEEE Region 10 Conference on Computer and Communication Systems, pp. 496-500, Sep. 1990
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  • A. V. Ferris-Prabhu, "Modeling the Critical Area in Yield Forecasts", IEEE J. of Solid State Circuits, vol. SC-20, No. 4, Aug. 1985, 874-878
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  • Papadopoulou et al, "L .infin. Voronoi Diagrams and Applications to VLSI Layout and Manufacturing," Manuscript, Extended Abstract submitted to International Symposium on Algorithms and Computation, 1998. (To appear in proceedings of ISAAC98, Dec. 1998)
  • Pineda et al., "IC Defect Sensitivity for Footprint-Type Spot Defects," IEEE Trans. on Computer-Aided Design, vol. 11, No. 5, 638-658, May 1992
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  • D.M. H. Walker, "Critical Area Analysis," Journal Preprint, Carnegie Mellon University, SRC Pub. C91611, Aug. 199
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