Explicit Feature and Edge Insertion for Improved Analog Layout Generators in Advanced Semiconductor Technologies

Abstract:
Analog layout design is a predominantly manual task that is extremely difficult, time consuming, and costly. The socalled generator-based design methodology is one possibility to reduce the manual effort by substituting design steps with procedural automation. Recent work already discussed a high degree of technology-independence of procedural generators. However, same generator code creates always the same structure which reduces flexibility. Moreover, recent generators behave like black-boxes with implicit behavior. This work utilizes an abstract layout placement graph in order to include layout relations and/or layout shapes automatically within a post-processing step. As the result, abstract generator descriptions are much more robust and handle the great amount of advanced process design rules which is of high practical relevance when targeting multiple technologies. Both the degree of technology independence and layout quality are therefore increased in an explicit way for the first time – without changing any generator code.