JP4620241B2 - Semiconductor device design support apparatus and method - Google Patents

Description

[0001]
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a semiconductor device design support apparatus and a design support method for designing a semiconductor device such as an integrated circuit with the aid of a computer.
[0002]
[Prior art]
Conventionally, when designing a circuit of an electronic circuit, a circuit designer creates a circuit on a display screen of a display device using a circuit diagram editor, and at the same time, each circuit element (transistor, capacitor, resistor, etc.) of the circuit. On the other hand, various parameters are individually set from the input device. After that, a net list (circuit connection information, parameter information of each circuit element) used in circuit simulation and mask layout process is generated.
[0003]
Here, the above parameters vary depending on circuit elements. For example, in the case of a MOS transistor, the transistor size, drain / source area, drain / source peripheral length, and the like. In the case of a capacitor, the capacitance value, unit capacitor The number of items.
[0004]
[Problems to be solved by the invention]
However, in the conventional design method, for example, when the same parameter is set for a plurality of circuit elements, various parameters must be set for each circuit element. There was an inconvenience that it took time.
[0005]
In addition, when there are many circuit elements and the same parameter is set for each circuit element, it takes time to set the parameter and a setting error such as forgetting to set a parameter for a certain circuit element is required. Also easy to wake up.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above, an object of the present invention is to provide a semiconductor device design support apparatus that can reduce the labor of parameter setting and setting errors when the same parameter is set for a plurality of circuit elements. And providing a support method thereof.
[0006]
In order to solve the above-described problems and achieve the object of the present invention, each invention described in claims 1 to 3 is configured as follows .
[0007]
The invention described in claim 1 is a display means for displaying a circuit diagram of an electronic circuit, and a selection means for selecting a region type corresponding to a parameter of a circuit element to be set from among the types of predefined regions. in the circuit diagram of the electronic circuit to be displayed on the display unit, an area setting means for setting a region including the circuit elements identified by the type of the selected region, the region by the region setting means sets And a parameter input means for inputting a region parameter value in order to arbitrarily input a parameter value of a circuit element for a region parameter defined in advance corresponding to the set region. Extracting means for extracting each circuit element and circuit connection information from the circuit diagram, and when the extracted circuit element is included in the area set by the area setting means, A parameter adding means for adding the area parameter values input by the parameter input means for each of the road-elements as the parameter value of the circuit element, and comprising the.
[0008]
The invention according to claim 2, in the design support apparatus of a semiconductor device according to claim 1, the circuit connection information extracted by the extraction means, in accordance with the appended said parameter values in the parameter adding means, The present invention is further characterized by further comprising a net list generation means for generating a net list .
[0009]
The invention according to claim 3 is a design support method of a semiconductor device for setting an arbitrary parameter for a circuit element of a circuit diagram of an electronic circuit displayed on a display means, and is a type of a predefined region A first step of selecting a region type corresponding to the parameter of the circuit element to be set, and the type of the selected region on the circuit diagram of the electronic circuit displayed by the display means. a second step of setting a region including a circuit element that, the region parameter that is previously defined corresponding to the set area, for inputting collectively in arbitrary parameter values of the circuit elements A third step of inputting region parameter values; a fourth step of extracting circuit elements and circuit connection information from the circuit diagram of the electronic circuit; and A fifth step of adding the region parameter value input in the third step as a parameter value of the circuit element to each of the circuit elements when included in the region set in the second step It is characterized by comprising.
[0010]
As described above, according to the present invention, among the circuit elements on the circuit diagram displayed by the display unit, a circuit element on which the same parameter can be set is arbitrarily specified on the circuit diagram, and an arbitrary parameter is input from the input unit. The input parameters are set uniformly for each specified circuit element.
For this reason, according to the present invention, for example, when the same parameter is set for a plurality of circuit elements, it is possible to reduce the labor for setting the parameter and to reduce the setting error.
[0011]
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
The configuration of an embodiment of a semiconductor device design support apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
The design support apparatus for a semiconductor device according to this embodiment displays a circuit diagram of an electronic circuit on a display device and sets various parameters of each circuit element of the circuit. As shown in FIG. The control processing device 1 that performs control necessary for parameter setting by such determination and processing is provided, and a storage device 2 is connected to the control processing device 1.
[0012]
The control processing device 1 includes a keyboard, a mouse, and the like, and an input device 3 for inputting predetermined data or a predetermined instruction by a designer as described later, and a display device 4 for displaying a circuit diagram or the like as described later. And are connected.
In addition, the control processing device 1 includes an internal memory 5 for storing a control program, various kinds of data as described later, and the like.
[0013]
The storage device 2 includes a hard disk, a flexible disk, an optical disk, or the like, and stores a definition file 21, a circuit diagram file 22, a netlist file 23, a control program file 24, and the like.
The definition file 21 is an area definition file that defines the type of area and the parameters belonging to that area in order to uniformly set parameters for each circuit element included in the area set as described later. Alternatively, a plurality of files are stored, and these definitions can be made from the input device 3 by the designer.
[0014]
The circuit diagram file 22 is a file for storing circuit diagram data created by the designer.
The net list file 23 is a file for storing a net list (circuit connection information, parameter information of each circuit element) generated as described later.
The control program file 24 is a file that stores a procedure (program) for the control processing device 1 to perform control processing as shown in FIG.
[0015]
The input device 4 has a function of selecting an area type corresponding to a parameter to be set from among the area types defined in the area definition file set in advance, and is specified by the selected area type. A function of arbitrarily setting a region including the circuit element to be displayed on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen of the display device 4 is provided.
[0016]
The input device 4 also has a function of arbitrarily inputting parameter values for the area parameters belonging to the area set as described above and defined in the area definition file.
Next, the area definition file stored in the definition file 21 will be described below.
[0017]
This area definition file defines "area type" and "parameter type belonging to that area", and the format of the file is, for example, as follows.
Type of area 1 (name)
Name of area parameter 1 belonging to area 1 = Default value Name of area parameter 2 belonging to area 1 = Default value ...
Type of area 2 (name)
Name of area parameter 1 belonging to area 2 = Default value Name of area parameter 2 belonging to area 2 = Default value ...
Type (name) of area n
Name of area parameter 1 belonging to area n = Default value Name of area parameter 2 belonging to area n = Default value ...
Next, a specific example of an area definition file having such a file format will be described.
[0018]
First, an area definition file associated with FIG. 3 is shown as follows, for example.
CAP SIZER
CAPSIZE = "33"
MINIUNITS = "1"
CASE = "TYP"
SIZEROUT = ””
Here, “CAP SIZER” indicates an area for inputting each parameter of the capacitor, and the area below that indicates an area parameter belonging to the “CAP SIZER”.
[0019]
“CAPSIZE” indicates the size of one side of the minimum unit capacitor, and its default value (specified value) is “33”.
“MINIUNITS” indicates the number of capacitors in the minimum unit, and the default value is “1”.
“CASE” is for setting, for example, one of three process conditions for manufacturing a capacitor, and its default value is “TYP” indicating a typical one.
[0020]
“SIZEROUT” is a file name for storing the execution result of “CAP SIZER”.
Next, the region definition file associated with FIG. 4 is as shown below, for example.
MULTI AREA
MULTI == "1"
Here, “MULTI AREA” indicates an area for setting the parallel number of transistors (MULTI), and the area below that indicates an area parameter belonging to “MULTI AREA”.
[0021]
“MULTI” indicates the number of parallel transistors, and its default value is “1”.
Next, an example of the operation of the semiconductor device design support apparatus according to the present embodiment having such a configuration will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a procedure for parameter setting processing for circuit elements. This procedure is stored in advance in the control program file 24 and is stored in the internal memory 5 of the control processing device 1 during the setting processing. It is read and used.
[0022]
First, in step S1, a circuit diagram stored in the circuit diagram file 22 is read into the internal memory 5, or a circuit diagram is input by an appropriate means and written into the internal memory 5.
In step S 2, the contents of all area definition files stored in the definition file 21 (area type, area parameter type belonging to that area type) are read into the internal memory 5.
[0023]
In step S3, the type of area defined in the area definition file is displayed on the display screen of the display device 4. The designer inputs the type of area corresponding to the parameter to be set with reference to the display. The selection is made by the device 3.
For example, when the capacitors C1 to C8 are the same CAPSIZE, MINIUNITS, CASE, and SIZEROUT, and the capacitors C11 to C18 are the same CAPSIZE, MINIUNITS, CASE, and SIZEROUT as in the circuit of FIG. Select “CAP SIZER”. On the other hand, when the parallel numbers (MULTI) of the MOS transistors Q1 to Q6 are the same as in the circuit of FIG. 4, “MULTI AREA” is selected.
[0024]
In step S4, an area corresponding to the type of the selected area, in other words, an area including the circuit element specified by the type of the area is displayed on the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen of the display device 4. By using the input device 3, it is arbitrarily set by a predetermined procedure.
For example, in the case of the circuit of FIG. 3, a region A1 indicated by a broken line is set so as to include capacitors C1 to C8, and a region A2 indicated by a broken line is set so as to include capacitors C11 to C18. On the other hand, in the case of the circuit of FIG. 4, a region A3 indicated by a broken line is set so that the MOS transistors Q1 to Q6 are included.
[0025]
In step S5, various parameter values are arbitrarily input from the input device 3 for the area parameters belonging to the set area and defined in the area definition file for the set area.
For example, in the case of the circuit of FIG. 3, each area parameter is input for each setting area A1, A2 as shown. In the case of the circuit of FIG. 4, region parameters are input to the setting region A3 as shown in the figure.
[0026]
In addition, when it is necessary to set a parameter individually with respect to a circuit element, a parameter shall be set with a predetermined procedure between step S5 and step S6, for example.
Next, in step S6, all circuit elements and their circuit connection information are extracted from the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen of the display device 4.
[0027]
In step S7, it is determined whether or not the extracted circuit element belongs to the region set in step S4. As a result of the determination, if it is determined that the circuit element does not belong to the setting region, the process proceeds to step S9, and the parameters individually set for the circuit element as described above and the parameters extracted in step S6 are extracted. A net list (circuit connection information, circuit element parameter information) is generated in accordance with the circuit connection information.
[0028]
On the other hand, if it is determined in step S7 that the circuit element belongs to the set region, the process proceeds to step S8, and various parameters input in step S5 are added to the circuit element. Therefore, in the case of the circuit of FIG. 3, for example, the same input parameter is added to the capacitors C1 to C8 each time.
[0029]
In the next step S9, a net list is generated according to the circuit connection information extracted in step S6 and the added parameters.
Then, by repeating the processes in steps S7 to S9, the net list is generated. When there is an instruction to end the generation of the net list (step S10), the above series of processes is ended.
[0030]
As described above, in the present embodiment, among the circuit elements on the circuit diagram displayed on the display device 4, circuit elements on which the same parameter can be set are arbitrarily specified on the circuit diagram, and the input device 3. When an arbitrary parameter is input, the input parameter is uniformly added to each specified circuit element, and a netlist is generated using the added parameter.
[0031]
For this reason, according to this embodiment, for example, when the same parameter is set for a plurality of circuit elements, it is possible to reduce the labor for setting the parameter and to reduce the setting error.
[0032]
【The invention's effect】
As described above, according to the present invention, for example, when the same parameter is set for a plurality of circuit elements, it is possible to reduce time and effort for setting the parameter, and to reduce the setting error.
[Brief description of the drawings]
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a configuration example of an embodiment of a semiconductor device design support apparatus according to the present invention;
FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of operation of parameter setting processing for a circuit element according to the embodiment;
FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram when an arbitrary area is set for a circuit diagram displayed on a display screen of a display device;
FIG. 4 is another explanatory diagram in the case where an arbitrary region is set with respect to the circuit diagram displayed on the display screen of the display device.
[Explanation of symbols]
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Control processing device 2 Storage device 3 Input device 4 Display device 5 Internal memory 21 Definition file 22 Circuit diagram file 23 Net list file 24 Control program file

Claims (3)

Display means for displaying a circuit diagram of the electronic circuit;
A selection means for selecting a type of a region corresponding to a parameter of a circuit element to be set among the types of regions defined in advance;
In the circuit diagram of the electronic circuit to be displayed on the display unit, an area setting means for setting a region including the circuit elements identified by the type of the selected region,
After the area is set by the area setting means, the area parameter is used to arbitrarily input the circuit element parameter values for the area parameters defined in advance corresponding to the set area. Parameter input means for inputting a value;
Extraction means for extracting circuit elements and circuit connection information respectively from the circuit diagram;
When the extracted circuit element is included in the area set by the area setting means, the area parameter value input by the parameter input means for each of the circuit elements is used as the parameter value of the circuit element. Parameter adding means to be added;
A design support apparatus for a semiconductor device, comprising:   2. The net list generating means for generating a net list according to the circuit connection information extracted by the extracting means and the parameter value added by the parameter adding means. The design support apparatus of the semiconductor device of description. A design support method for a semiconductor device for setting an arbitrary parameter for a circuit element of a circuit diagram of an electronic circuit displayed on a display means,
A first step of selecting a region type corresponding to a parameter of a circuit element to be set out of the predefined region types;
In the circuit diagram of the electronic circuit to be displayed on the display unit, a second step of setting a region including the circuit elements identified by the type of the selected region,
A third step of inputting a region parameter value in order to arbitrarily input a parameter value of a circuit element for a region parameter predefined corresponding to the set region;
A fourth step of respectively extracting circuit elements and circuit connection information from the circuit diagram of the electronic circuit;
When the extracted circuit element is included in the area set in the second step, the area parameter value input in the third step for each of the circuit elements is used as the parameter of the circuit element. A fifth step of adding as a value;
A design support method for a semiconductor device, comprising:

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