JP2005149295A - Layout hierarchy recomposition system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To efficiently recompose layout hierarchies without changing connection information of layout data, in order to reduce the increase of work man-hour and mistakes caused by manual correction work. <P>SOLUTION: A layout hierarchy recomposition device having a layout generation means and an editing means 12 which read in netlist information 13 from a circuit diagram and generate layout data 14 from hierarchies and connection information data of the netlist information 13 is provided with; an area selection means 22 which selects an area of a layout drawing; an automatic selection means 23 which automatically selects data corresponding to the area; a moving means 24 which moves layout data corresponding to the selected data to a layout of another hierarchy; a recomposition means 25 which detects overs and shorts of terminals of layout hierarchies, which are caused by movement, and recomposes terminal information and layout frames of layout hierarchies of the movement source and the movement destination on the basis of the overs and shorts; and a deduction means 26 which deduces new connection dependencies of an entire layout after movement. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to creation of layout data in LSI design and other electronic circuit design. More specifically, the present invention relates to reading means for reading netlist information from LSI circuit diagram data, and the hierarchy of the read netlist information and the navigation of connection information data. The present invention relates to a layout hierarchy rearrangement device having layout creation means for creating data.

  As shown in FIG. 4, in the conventional layout creating apparatus, the layout creating / editing means (reading means / layout creating means) 2 reads the circuit connection information (net list information) 3, and the circuit diagram creating / editing means 1 The layout data 4 is created faithfully to the circuit connection information 3 according to the instruction (navigation).

  In creating this circuit diagram, a hierarchy is configured for each functional block so that it can be easily simulated. However, in creating a layout, in order to pursue area and characteristics, it is not necessarily assembled in the same hierarchical configuration as the analog circuit diagram. However, in such a situation, there is no problem in layout rearrangement when the circuit diagram and the layout are created separately.

  In recent years, layout creation methods linked to circuit diagram information and new technologies such as hierarchical LVS have been established due to demands for work efficiency, and it has become necessary to match the hierarchical configuration of circuit diagrams and layouts. When a layout linked to a circuit diagram is created, the layout hierarchy becomes equal to the circuit diagram hierarchy suitable for the simulation, so that there is a problem that the layout area efficiency of the entire layout deteriorates. In addition, this causes manual correction work of the circuit diagram information, resulting in problems such as work mistakes and increased man-hours, and the efficiency of layout rearrangement work deteriorates.

For such problems, the logic circuit hierarchy can be used as a floor plan device for smoothly designing a large-scale LSI hierarchy layout by easily associating the hierarchy in the logic design with the hierarchy corresponding to the layout structure. Hierarchy information holding means for associating and holding information and layout hierarchy information after the floor plan, and a hierarchy including a layout hierarchy and a layout hierarchy that do not exist in the logical hierarchy based on information held by the hierarchy information holding means What is disclosed includes a hierarchy state determination unit and a netlist generation unit 15 that outputs only a layout hierarchy that does not exist in a logical hierarchy and a netlist of a hierarchy including a layout hierarchy based on the determination result of the hierarchy state determination unit (For example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2000-155770 A

However, this technology supports pin additions and netlist changes due to the addition of hierarchies, etc., but is related to floorplanning and netlist generation, and retains connection information that is a feature of the present invention. There is no disclosure about layout data hierarchy rearrangement and shape editing.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for efficiently performing layout hierarchy rearrangement without changing layout data connection information in order to reduce an increase in work man-hours and manual correction work.

The invention according to claim 1 is a reading means for reading netlist information from circuit diagram data of an LSI;
In a layout hierarchy rearrangement apparatus having layout creation means for creating layout data in accordance with navigation of the read netlist information and connection information data,
An area selecting means capable of selecting an arbitrary area in the layout drawing;
Automatic selection means for automatically selecting a hierarchy and connection information data corresponding to the layout data included in the selected area;
Moving means for moving the layout data corresponding to the selected hierarchy and connection information data into another hierarchy layout;
Reconfiguration means for detecting the excess or deficiency of the terminals of the layout hierarchy caused by the movement from the selected area information, and reconstructing the terminal information and the layout frame of the layout hierarchy of the movement source and the movement destination based on the detected area information;
And an indexing means for newly determining the connection dependency of the entire layout after movement.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the area selecting means that can select an arbitrary area in the layout drawing, and the hierarchy and connection information data corresponding to the layout data included in the selected area are automatically selected. Automatic selection means, moving means for moving the layout data corresponding to the selected hierarchy and connection information data into another hierarchy layout, and detecting excess or deficiency of terminals of the layout hierarchy caused by the movement from the selected area information, The selected layout is provided with reconfiguration means for reconfiguring the terminal information and layout frame of the layout hierarchy of the movement source and destination based on that, and indexing means for newly determining the connection dependency of the entire layout after movement. Because it is possible to change the shape of the analog layout diagram easily and without mistakes, simply by moving the object to another level. Man-hours of the layout work can be reduced and prevent design errors. Further, the layout shape can be easily changed without changing the entire connection dependency before editing.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, in addition to the conventional layout creating means, any area selecting means in the layout drawing, and the hierarchy and connection information data corresponding to the layout data included in the selected area A means for automatically selecting layouts, means for moving layout data corresponding to the selected hierarchy and connection information data into another hierarchy layout, and detecting excess or deficiency of terminals in the layout hierarchy due to movement from the netlist information To move the selected layout to a different layer by having a means for reconfiguring the terminal information and layout frame of the source and destination hierarchical layout and a means for newly determining the connection dependency of the entire layout after the movement. The layout of the analog layout diagram can be changed easily and without mistakes by simply Man-hours of work can be reduced and it is possible to prevent the design errors. Further, the layout shape can be easily changed without changing the entire connection dependency before editing.
Therefore, in order to reduce errors due to an increase in work man-hours and manual correction work, it is possible to provide an apparatus that can efficiently rearrange layout hierarchies without changing layout data connection information.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a layout rearrangement control means 10 provided in a layout rearrangement apparatus according to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a diagram showing step by step how layout rearrangement / creation is performed by the layout rearrangement apparatus according to the present invention. 3 is a flowchart for performing layout rearrangement / creation of FIG. 2 under the control of the control block diagram of FIG. Note that S1 to S5 in FIG. 3 correspond to S1 to S5 described in the upper left of the layout data in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the layout rearrangement apparatus according to the present invention includes circuit diagram creation / editing means 11, circuit connection information (net list information) 13, and layout data 14 similar to those provided in a conventional layout creation apparatus. In addition, layout creation / editing means (reading / layout creation means) 12, area selection means 22 capable of selecting an arbitrary area on the layout screen, a hierarchy corresponding to the layout data included in the selected area, and Automatic selection means 23 for automatically selecting connection information data (partial net list), moving means 24 for moving the layout data corresponding to the selected hierarchy and connection information data into another hierarchy layout, and reconfiguration of the layout frame Reconstructing means 25, and indexing means 26 for newly determining the connection dependency of the entire layout after movement Equipped with a etc.. In this example, the reading unit and the layout creating unit are the layout creating / editing unit 12. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the reading unit and the layout creating unit may have different configurations.

Next, the operation of the present invention will be described mainly with reference to FIGS. In addition, FIG. 1 is referred as needed.
First, an operator reads circuit connection information (net list information) 13 from LSI circuit diagram data, and instructs (navigation) the circuit diagram creation / editing means 11 according to the circuit connection information (hierarchy, connection information data, etc.) 13. The layout creation / editing means (reading / layout creating means) 12 creates the layout data 14.

  The layout data 14 is called on a memory (not shown) and displayed on a display device as a layout drawing (Proto), and an arbitrary area E having an element with inefficient layout is moved to reduce a layout surface. Are selected by the area selection means 22 (S1). Then, the hierarchy and connection information data (net list information) corresponding to the layout data included in the selected area E are automatically selected by the automatic selection means 23 (S2).

The layout data corresponding to the hierarchy and connection information data selected in (S2) corresponding to the selected area E and the hierarchy and connection information data included in the selected area E are moved into the desired hierarchy layout by the moving means 24 ( S3).
In this example, as shown in S3 of FIG. 2, the area E in the A hierarchy is selected and moved to an empty space in the C hierarchy.

  Then, the destination / source layout data is read, the net list information held by the layout creation means 12 is read, and from the data of both areas E in which the excess or deficiency of the terminals of the layout hierarchy C caused by the movement is selected. The excess or deficiency of the terminals of the layout hierarchy C caused by the movement is detected, and the terminal information and the layout frame of the layout hierarchy C of the movement source and the movement destination are reconfigured by the layout frame reconstructing means 25 based on the detected (S4) The size of the changed hierarchy C is recalculated, and the cell frame is recreated. In this example, the cell frame of the A layer is corrected, and the terminal J that has not existed in the A layer is added (S5).

Finally, as a reconfiguration of the connection of the entire layout, the indexing unit 26 newly calculates the connection dependency of the entire layout after the movement. The reconstructed terminal information and cell frame (position) information are read, and final editing is added to the layout diagram. In this example, as in S5, a new terminal in the A layer and a D layer in the C layer are connected.
In this way, the layout is corrected while maintaining the connection dependency information.

It is a block diagram of the layout movement control means with which the layout rearrangement apparatus of this invention is equipped. FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a state in which layout rearrangement / creation is performed by the layout rearrangement apparatus of FIG. 1 in order. 3 is a flowchart for performing layout rearrangement / creation shown in FIG. 2 under the control of the block diagram of FIG. 1. It is a control block diagram of the conventional layout production apparatus.

Explanation of symbols

10 Layout rearrangement control means 11 Circuit diagram creation / editing means 12 Layout creation / editing means (reading and layout creating means)
13 Circuit connection information (net list information)
14 layout data 22 area selection means 23 automatic selection means 24 movement means 25 reconstruction means 26 indexing means E area J terminal

Claims (1)

Means for reading netlist information from circuit diagram data of the LSI;
In a layout hierarchy rearrangement apparatus having layout creation means for creating layout data in accordance with navigation of the read netlist information and connection information data,
An area selecting means capable of selecting an arbitrary area in the layout drawing;
Automatic selection means for automatically selecting a hierarchy and connection information data corresponding to the layout data included in the selected area;
Moving means for moving the layout data corresponding to the selected hierarchy and connection information data into another hierarchy layout;
Reconfiguration means for detecting the excess or deficiency of the terminals of the layout hierarchy caused by the movement from the selected area information, and reconstructing the terminal information and the layout frame of the layout hierarchy of the movement source and the movement destination based on the detected area information;
A layout hierarchy rearrangement device comprising: indexing means for newly determining connection dependency of the entire layout after movement.

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