Patent application number | Description | Published |
20140325461 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING GATE-LEVEL ACTIVITY DATA FOR USE IN CLOCK GATING EFFICIENCY ANALYSIS - A mechanism for generating gate-level activity data for use in clock gating efficiency analysis of an integrated circuit (IC) design is provided. Generating the gate-level activity data includes generating a signal behaviour description for inter-register signals, generating a gate-level netlist for the IC design, generating gate-level stimuli based at least partly on the generated signal behaviour description, and performing gate-level simulation using the generated gate-level stimuli to generate gate-level activity data for the IC design. In one embodiment, generating the signal behaviour description includes performing Register Transfer Level (RTL) simulation of the IC design, and generating the gate-level netlist includes performing RTL synthesis. The RTL simulation and RTL synthesis are performed on RTL data for the IC design. | 10-30-2014 |
20140351781 | METHOD FOR PLACING OPERATIONAL CELLS IN A SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE - There is provided a method of placing a plurality of operational cells of a semiconductor device within a semiconductor layout, comprising determining timing data for each of the plurality of operational cells, determining switching activity from RTL or design constraints for each of the plurality of operational cells, determining power grid switch locations relative to each of the plurality of operational cells, deriving a cost function based upon the determined timing data, determined switching activity from RTL/design constraints and determined relative power grid switch locations and initially placing the plurality of operational cells according to the derived cost function. | 11-27-2014 |
20150199468 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SELECTING DATA PATH ELEMENTS FOR CLONING - A method and apparatus for selecting data path elements for cloning within an integrated circuit (IC) design is described. The method comprises performing timing analysis of at least one data path within the IC design to determine at least one timing slack value for the at least one data path, calculating at least one annotated delay value for cloning a candidate element within the at least one data path, calculating at least one modified slack value for the at least one data path in accordance with the at least one calculated annotated delay value, and validating the cloning of the candidate element based at least partly on the at least one modified slack value. | 07-16-2015 |
20150242544 | METHOD OF SIMULATING A SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT, COMPUTER PROGRAM PRODUCT, AND DEVICE FOR SIMULATING A SEMICONDUCTOR INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - A There is proposed a method and device for simulating a semiconductor IC is provided, which comprises generating a high level description of the IC, generating a low level description of the IC comprising a plurality of instances describing the operation of the IC, conducting a low level function analysis of the IC based on metrics values associated with the instances, and performing a design optimization scheme. The scheme comprises mapping the metric values of instances describing functional units different from standard cells, to standard cells logically connected to said instances, by dividing each of the instance metrics values between a group of standard cells logically connected to the corresponding instance and adding each resulting portion of said instance metric value to the metric value of each of the group of standard cells, respectively. | 08-27-2015 |
20150247899 | SCAN TEST SYSTEM - A method generates scan patterns for testing an electronic device called DUT having a scan path. A scan tester is arranged for executing a scan shift mode and a capture mode. A scan test interface has a clock control unit for stretching a shift cycle of the scan clock in dependence of a scan clock pattern. The method determines at least one power shift cycle which is expected to cause a voltage drop of a supply voltage exceeding a predetermined threshold during respective shift cycles of the scan shift mode, and generates, in addition to the scan pattern, a scan clock pattern indicative of stretching the power shift cycle. Advantageously, a relatively high scan shift frequency may be used while avoiding detrimental effects of said voltage drop by extending the respective power shift cycle, whereby test time and yield loss are reduced. | 09-03-2015 |
20150276869 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR AT-SPEED SCAN SHIFT FREQUENCY TEST OPTIMIZATION - There is provided an integrated circuit comprising at least one logic path, comprising a plurality of sequential logic elements operably coupled into a scan chain to form at least one scan chain under test, at least one IR drop sensor operably coupled to the integrated circuit power supply, operable to output a first logic state when a sensed supply voltage is below a first predefined value and to output a second logic state when the sensed supply voltage is above the first predefined value, at least one memory buffer operably coupled to a scan test data load-in input and a scan test data output of the at least one scan chain under test, and control logic operable to gate logic activity including the scan shift operation inside the integrated circuit for a single cycle when the at least one IR drop sensor outputs the first logic state and to allow normal scan test flow when the at least one IR drop sensor outputs the second logic state. There is also provided an associated method of performing at-speed scan testing of an integrated circuit. | 10-01-2015 |
20150310152 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALCULATING DELAY TIMING VALUES FOR AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT DESIGN - A method of calculating at least one delay timing value for at least one setup timing stage within an integrated circuit design includes applying Negative/Positive Bias Temperature Instability (N/PBTI) compensation margins to delay values for elements within the at least one setup timing stage, and calculating the at least one delay timing value for the at least one setup timing stage based at least partly on the N/PBTI compensated delay values. The method further includes identifying at least partially equivalent elements within parallel timing paths of the at least one setup timing stage, and applying reduced N/PBTI compensation margins to delay values for the identified at least partially equivalent elements within parallel timing paths of the at least one setup timing stage. | 10-29-2015 |
20150338460 | METHOD AND CONTROL DEVICE FOR LAUNCH-OFF-SHIFT AT-SPEED SCAN TESTING - The invention provides a method for launch-off-shift at-speed scan testing for at least two scan chains of an integrated circuit comprises iteratively shifting set values for functional elements of a first one of the scan chains clocked with a shift clock, iteratively shifting set values for functional elements of a second one of the scan chains clocked with the shift clock, launching an at-speed scan test clocked with a functional clock for the first one of the scan chains at a last shift cycle of the first one of the scan chains, delaying the last shift cycle for the second one of the scan chains for a predetermined time span, launching an at-speed scan test clocked with a functional clock for the second one of the scan chains at the last shift cycle of the second one of the scan chains, capturing the sample values of the functional elements of the first and second scan chains after the last shift cycle of the scan chains. | 11-26-2015 |
20150339413 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING LOGIC SYNTHESIS - A method of performing logic synthesis of at least a part of an integrated circuit design. The method comprises identifying a first and at least one further module within the IC design that are mutually exclusive, selecting at least one register element within the first identified module and at least one register element within the at least one further identified module to be shared, and merging the first and at least one further mutually exclusive modules such that at least one common register element is shared between the first and at least one further mutually exclusive modules for the register elements selected to be shared. | 11-26-2015 |
20150339427 | INTEGRATED CIRCUIT HIERARCHICAL DESIGN TOOL APPARATUS AND METHOD OF HIERARCHICALLY DESIGNING AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT - An integrated circuit hierarchical design tool apparatus comprises a processor arranged to support a block coupling reconfiguration unit. The block coupling reconfiguration unit is capable of receiving block layout data comprising block placement, terminal location data and intra-block connectivity data. The block coupling reconfiguration unit is arranged to identify from the block layout data a block placement level block having a terminal respectively coupled to a plurality of other block placement level blocks by a plurality of nets, and to provide the block with an additional terminal capable of providing the same function as the terminal. The block coupling reconfiguration unit is also arranged to replace a net of the plurality of nets that is coupled to the terminal with a replacement net coupled to the additional terminal. | 11-26-2015 |