JPH0327475A - Layout inspecting device - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To judge a design rule check value at first sight by outputting layout pattern data for displaying design rule check value on a screen. CONSTITUTION:A read means 12 reads layout data for displaying design rule check value from a layout data base for displaying design rule check value 11 and displays it on screen. A selection means 14 selects the design rule check value to be changed among layout data displayed on the screen from the screen and an input means 15 inputs a change value with respect to the selected design rule check value. The changed design rule check value is displayed on layout data on the screen of a display part 16 again. Thus, the design rule check value can freely and interactively set and a design rule check file can automatically be generated by a value which a user sets, whereby a layout can be inspected by using the generated design rule check file.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]. [Industrial Field of Application] The present invention relates to an apparatus for verifying the layout of semiconductor integrated circuit layout pattern data using design rules.

[Conventional technology]

FIG. 6 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a conventional layout verification method using design rules for layout pattern data. In the figure, 1 is a design rule check file section having a design rule check file a, 2 is a storage section for storing a layout pattern data b to be verified, 3 is a layout verification means based on design rules, and 4 is a storage section for storing error data. It is a storage part.

In FIG. 6, first, as input data when performing layout verification based on design rules, layout pattern data b to be verified and a design rule check file a in which verification rules are described are used.

The design rule check file a is manually entered into a computer based on a format supported by a CAD tool that performs layout verification using design rules.

When a user uses the design rule check file a, it is necessary to understand the checks, bets, and check values written in the file a, and to confirm, correct, or change them. After confirming the design rule check file a, layout verification using the design rules of the layout pattern data b is performed according to the check specifications written in the design rule check file a, and error locations output by the verification are output as error data C. be done.

[Problem to be solved by the invention]

As mentioned above, in order to confirm or modify the design rule check file a, the user needs to understand the formants supported by the CAD tool that performs layout verification, which is very time consuming.

Furthermore, there is a wide variety of CAD tools for performing layout verification, and each tool supports different formats, so there is a problem in that it takes time to learn formants for each tool.

Furthermore, since data is input into the computer manually, there is a high possibility that input errors will occur.

The present invention has been made in view of these points, and its purpose is to eliminate the need for users to learn formants supported by CAD tools that perform layout verification based on design knowledge, and to You can freely and interactively set design rule check values without having to be aware of the design rule check file, automatically generate a design rule check file based on the values set by the user, and use the generated design rule check file to create a layout. The object of the present invention is to obtain a layout verification device that can perform verification.

[Means to solve the problem]

In order to solve such problems, the present invention provides a database that stores layout data for displaying design rule check values for displaying design rule check values when performing layout verification using design rules, and a database that stores layout data for displaying design rule check values when performing layout verification using design rules. A reading means for reading layout data for displaying check values, a display means for displaying the read layout data on a screen, a selection means for selecting a change item on the screen from the design rule check values displayed on the screen, and a selection means for selecting a change item on the screen from the design rule check values displayed on the screen. an input means for inputting a changed design rule check value for a changed item; a display section for displaying the changed design rule check value on layout data for displaying the design rule check value; The design rule check is performed using a writing means for writing layout data for displaying the design rule check value displayed in the database, and a design rule check spec file that describes the design rule specification and the layout data of the database that stores the check value data after the change. A design rule check file generation means for generating a file, a layout verification means for performing layout verification from the generated design rule check file and target layout pattern data for layout verification, and storage for storing error data that is the verification result. A means is provided.

[Effect]

In the layout verification device according to the present invention, the user can interactively set design rule check values regardless of the format supported by the CAD tool that performs layout verification using design rules, and the set check {direct Data input errors are eliminated by automatically generating a design error check file.

〔Example〕

An embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a layout verification device according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, l1 is a design rule check value display layout database that stores design rule check value display layout data for displaying design rule check values, and 12 is design rule check value display layout data from the layout database 11. reading means for reading out 13
14 is a display means for displaying the layout data read out by the reading means 12 on the screen, and 14 is a display means for displaying the design rule check value to be changed from among the layout data displayed on the screen using a mouse (not shown) on the screen. a selection means 15 selects a change value from the keyboard (
(not shown) is a manual input means, l6 is 15 steps of manual input.
17 is a display unit for displaying layout data including the changed design rule check value on the screen; 17 is a writing means for writing the layout data for displaying the changed design rule check value into the database 11; and 18 is a writing means for writing the design rule change value. 19; a storage section for storing a design rule check specification file that describes a design rule check specification in a format supported by a CAD tool that performs layout verification as a variable definition;
automatically generates a design rule check file from the design rule check values stored in the design rule check value display layout database 11 and the design rule check spec file in the storage section 18, and stores it in the storage section 1a described later. 2 is a storage unit for the target layout pattern data b to be used for layout verification based on the design rules; Layout verification means for performing layout verification, 4 is a storage unit for error data C output by layout verification of 1,000 stages of layout verification 12.

Next, a layout 1/verification method based on design rules will be explained using FIG. 1. First, layout data for displaying design rule check values is prepared. The data registered in the database 1l are a layout pattern in which design rule check points can be displayed, a design rule number shown on the layout data, and a design rule check standard value.

FIG. 2 shows an example of data contents of the design rule check value display layout database 1l.

20, 21, and 22 are the human data of the layout pattern data, which are the defeat layer, contact layer, and
It is an aluminum layer. 23 is a design rule number indicating a design rule check item, and 24 is a design rule check value of the design rule check item indicated by design rule number 23. After creating the layout data for displaying design rule check values, work begins on changing the design rule check values.

First, layout data for displaying design rule check values is read from the layout database l1 for displaying design rule check values (see reading means 12 in FIG. 1) and displayed on the screen (see display 13 in FIG. 1).

At this time, the layout data includes layer information, design rule numbers, design rule check values, coordinate data, polygon information, etc.

Next, select the design rule check value to be changed from the layout data displayed on the screen (
(See selection step 14 in FIG. 1), selection 9 10 Manually enter a change value for the selected design rule check value from the keyboard (see step 15 in FIG. 1).

The changed design rule check value is displayed again in the layout data on the screen (display section 16 in FIG. 1).

FIG. 3 shows an example of changing design rule check values. Figure 3 (al shows the layout data for displaying design rule check values is displayed on the screen, (b
l is (after enlarging al's screen, the change check value is selected with the mouse, (C) is the state where the change check value is manually input using the keyboard, (dl is the state where the check value is changed and the design rule check is selected) This shows a state in which the layout data for displaying values is displayed on the screen.When changing the design rule check value repeatedly, the operations in the means 14 to 16 indicated by dotted lines in FIG. 1 are successively performed on the same screen. After the design rule check value has been changed, the layout data for displaying the design rule check value after the change is written into the database 11.

Next, the design rule check spec file in the storage section 18 is checked. FIG. 4 shows an example of the data content of the design rule check specification file. In the same figure “
field, contact, external
Characters such as "fie1d, separate" indicate the contents of design numbers R1, R2, etc. Also, "drc" means design rule check. The design rule check spec file is zaported by a CAD tool that performs layout verification using design rules. The description of the design rule check value is defined in the variable 25, and this variable 25 is the design rule number 23 (see Figure 2) included in the layout database 1l for displaying the design rule check value.
and corresponds to 1:l. After the creation of the design rule check file is completed, the design rule check file automatic generation program is executed (see step 19 in FIG. 1) to generate the design rule check file.

FIG. 5 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a method of generating a design rule check file. First, the design rule number 23 and the design rule check value 24 are extracted from the 11 l2 design rule check value display layout database 1l and stored in the storage database 26. Next, the design rule check value display file is read from the file section 18 (step 27), and the design rule check value display layout database 11
The design rule number 23 included in the data extracted from the file is compared with the variable 25 (see Figure 4) described in the design rule change file (step 28), and if they match, the design rule number is set. The design rule check value 24 corresponding to 23 is taken out from the storage database 26, and the design rule check value 24 taken out from the storage data base 26 is substituted into the variable 25 of the design rule check base file (step 29).

If the design rule number included in the storage database 26 does not match the variable 25 written in the design rule check spec file in the storage section 18, an error message is output (see display 1000 rows 30).

After completing the assignment of design rule check values to all variables included in the design rule check spec file in the storage section l8, save the design rule check spec file to which the design rule check values have been assigned to the design rule check file. and stores it in the storage section 1a. In this way, a design rule check file can be generated.

After completing the creation of the design rule check file,
Perform layout validation using design rules. Layout verification based on the design rules for layout pattern data b (see Figure 1) to be verified is performed according to the check specs written in the automatically generated design rule check file, and the error locations output by verification are is output as error data C.

In the above embodiment, one design rule spec file corresponds to one design rule check value display layout database l1. We have explained the case of creating a design rule check file, but since the formants supported by the CAD tool that performs layout verification using design rules vary, it is important to create a design rule check file that corresponds to each tool. By adding a selection means for selecting for which tool a design rule check file is to be generated before reading the design rule spec file, the same effects as in the above embodiment can be achieved.

〔Effect of the invention〕

As explained above, the present invention allows design rule check values to be determined at a glance by outputting layout pattern data for displaying design rule check values on the screen, and also enables design rule check values to be displayed interactively. Can be changed and set. In addition, by automatically generating a design rule check file from the check values set in the layout pattern data for displaying design rule check values, layout verification CAD
Since there is no need to learn the formants supported by the tool, and there are no input errors, the effort of checking the data in the design rule check file is eliminated, and the time spent on generating the design rule check file is reduced. be.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram showing an embodiment of a layout verification device according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a pattern diagram showing an example of data contents of a layout database for displaying design rule check values, and FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of data contents of a layout database for displaying design rule check values. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the modification work. FIG. 4 is an explanatory diagram showing an example of the data content of a design rule check file. FIG. 5 is a flowchart to explain the method of creating a design rule check file. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a layout verification method using design rules in a conventional device. la, 2, 4.18...Storage unit, 3...Layout verification means, 1l...Layout database, l? !
15 16...Reading means, 13.16...Display means, 14.
... Selection means, 15... Input means, l7... Writing means, 19... Automatic generation means.

Claims (1)

[Claims] A database that stores layout data for displaying design rule check values for displaying design rule check values when performing layout verification using design rules, and a database that stores layout data for displaying design rule check values from this database. A reading means for reading, a display means for displaying the read layout data on a screen, a selection means for selecting a change item on the screen from the design rule check values displayed on the screen, and a display means for selecting a change item on the screen from the design rule check values displayed on the screen, and a display means for displaying the read layout data on the screen. an input means for inputting a changed value of the rule check value; a display section for displaying the changed design rule check value on the layout data for displaying the design rule check value; and a design rule check displaying the changed design rule check value. a writing means for writing layout data for value display into the database, and a design rule check file for generating a design rule check file from the layout data of the database storing the check value data after change and the design rule check specification file for describing the design rule specification. The present invention includes a design rule check file generation means, a layout verification means for performing layout verification from the generated design rule check file and target layout pattern data for layout verification, and a storage means for storing error data as a verification result. A layout verification device featuring: