Placement algorithm for the optimal synthesized design of CMOS logic cells

A systematic placement algorithm is described for the design of CMOS logic cells. Unlike the other placement algorithms that apply only to NAND/NOR circuits or that are very time consuming, the proposed algorithm applies to any kind of CMOS circuit, and has no restriction as to the NAND/NOR circuits. Furthercmore, it applies to both planar and non-planar circuits. In addition, since a very efficient graph-theoretic approach is used as a constructive algorithm which generates a near optimal initial placement combined with an iterative approach by simulated annealing, an optimum result can be obtained in less time. The layout style of a transistor chain is used which, in conjunction with the optimal synthesized design approach using switching network logic, constitutes a systematic method for the design automation of high-speed VLSI circuits.     

标准单元模式下的一种快速增量式布局算法

增量式布局是适应高性能设计要求的一种新的布局模式 .它针对电路更改 ,局部地调整单元位置 ,重新获得合理的布局 .本文提出了一种标准单元模式下的快速增量布局算法 .算法采用单元行划分的方法处理布局约束 ,然后将布局调整归结为单元依次插入单元行的问题 ,并构造了一个数学规划求解最佳的插入方案 .同时提出了复杂度为O(n)的双对角线搜索法求解这个特殊的数学规划 .实际电路测试表明算法高效而稳定 ,比简单的启发式算法快十倍 ,并使布局修改减少 2 0 %以上     

On the application of the Neuron MOS transistor principle formodern VLSI design

In this paper, the speed performance, power consumption, and layout area of Neuron MOS transistor circuits are monitored considering the requirements of modern VLSI design. The Neuron MOS transistor is a recently discovered device principle which has a number of input gates that couple capacitively to a floating gate. The floating gate potential controls the current of a transistor channel. This device can be used in logic circuits. A threshold current through the Neuron MOS transistor can be defined that causes a switching of the output of the logic circuits as soon as the channel current surmounts or falls below the specified value. We designed two different multiplier cells, one based on a Neuron MOS inverter, and the other on a Neuron MOS n-MOSFET which is used as one input device of a comparator circuit. Functionality of both cells is proven for data rates up to 50 MHz which represents the first high-speed measurement of a circuit based on this new design principle. A perspective for the upper speed limit found at more than 500 MHz is given by simulation. The new design principle has a layout area reduced by more than a factor of two compared to usual multiplier cells. Moreover, it is shown, that depending on the design chosen, high speed operation leads to considerable power savings. In view of those advantages it is concluded that the principle of threshold logic qualifies for a major breakthrough for packing density improvement of CMOS-based applications     

Advances in bipolar VLSI

Bipolar IC processes are reviewed, and the impact of BiCMOS technology on bipolar VLSI is discussed. The discussion covers standard emitter-coupled-logic (ECL) circuit configuration, on-chip line driving, output circuitry, series gating, ECL versus CML (current-mode logic), differential logic, noise margins, interconnect capacitance, bipolar VLSI transistor design and scaling, and processes for ECL VLSI     

High-speed low-power charge-buffered active-pull-down ECI circuit

A high-speed, low-power, charge-buffered active-pull-down ECL (emitter-coupled logic) circuit is described. The circuit features a charge-buffered coupling between the common-emitter node of the switching transistors and the base of an active-pull-down n-p-n transistor. This coupling scheme provides a much larger dynamic current than what can be reasonably achieved through the capacitor coupling and a DC path to alleviate the AC-testing requirement. Furthermore, the dynamic current is utilized effectively by the logic stage, thus allowing a reduction in the power consumption of the logic stage without sacrificing the switching speed. Based on a 0.8-μm double-poly self-aligned bipolar technology at a power consumption of 1.0 mW/gate, the circuit offers 37% improvement in both the speed and load driving capability for a loaded gate compared with the conventional ECL circuit. The design and scaling considerations of the circuit are discussed     

Diode-HBT-logic circuits monolithically integrable with ECl/CMLcircuits

A novel logic approach, diode-HBT logic (DHL), that is implemented with GaAlAs/GaAs HBTs and Schottky diodes to provide high-density and low-power digital circuit operation is described. This logic family was realized with the same technology used to produce emitter-coupled-logic/current-mode-logic (ECL/CML) circuits. The logic operation was demonstrated with a 19-stage ring oscillator and a frequency divider. A gate delay of 160 ps was measured with 1.1 mW of power per gate. The divider worked properly up to 6 GHz. Layouts of a DHL flip-flop and divider showed that circuit area and transistor count can be reduced by about a factor of 3, relative to ECL/CML circuits. The new logic approach allows monolithic integration of high-speed ECL/CML circuits with high-density DHL circuits with high-density DHL circuits     

Mixed static and domino logic on the CMOS gate forest

In a semicustom design environment with unified transistor geometries, logic circuit optimization is achieved using an efficient physical circuit implementation. In particular, the semicustom realization of domino logic is demonstrated with a standard-cell and a multiplier design which are used to support the implementation of such a dynamic logic design style on a gate forest, which has a higher n count than p count. The mixture of complementary and dynamic logic allows the designer to improve the critical-path delay and to reduce the size of the layout. The domino standard-cell architecture supports multiple-output configurations and additional internal precharge. The operation time for a mixed static/dynamic multiplier is approximately 30% higher than that of the static version based on a carry select adder. This difference mainly affects the critical delay of the sign-extension path of the parallel adder array     

Mixed-cell-height legalization considering complex minimum width constraints and half-row fragmentation effect

With the increasing complexity in modern circuit designs, the 6T&6TPPNN circuits have become popular in advanced technologies for better trade-offs among routability, timing, power and performance. The 6TPPNN cells incur great challenges to layout designs, especially the legalization problem due to their complex minimum width (MW) constraints and the fragmentation effect (FE). In this paper, we address the mixed 6T&6TPPNN cell legalization problem considering both MW constraints and FE issues. Given a global placement result, we first align all cells to the correct rows/half-rows that satisfy the VDD/VSS alignment constraints, and then propose a clustering-based MW constraints solving method to eliminate all the MW violations. After that, we formulate the legalization problem with MW constraints as a quadratic programming (QP) problem, which not only satisfies the MW constraints, but also avoid causing excessive dead spaces. Finally, we integrate the FE issues into the formulated MW-aware QP model, and adopt the modulus-based matrix splitting iteration method (MMSIM) to solve the mathematical model effectively and efficiently. Experimental results show that our algorithm can resolve all MW constraints and mitigate the half-row fragmentation effect without any extra area overhead in a reasonable time.     

ECOP：一种基于单元行划分的标准单元模式增量布局算法

针对标准单元模式超大规模集成电路增量式布局问题,提出了一个全新的增量布局算法ECOP.该算法一改以往布局算法中以单元为中心的做法，变为以单元行为中心，围绕单元行来进行单元的插入，移动以及各种约束条件的处理.在划分单元行时，始终保持单元行的内部连通性，并对单元移动路径进行搜索与优化.对一组来自美国工业界的设计实例进行了测试.实验结果表明，ECOP算法是非常实用而高效的.     

Low Area/Power Synthesis Using Hybrid Pass Transistor/CMOS Logic Cells in Standard Cell-Based Design Environment

This brief presents a logic synthesis flow that depends on the popular Synopsys Design Compiler to perform logic translation and minimization based on the standard cell library with both pass transistor logic (PTL) and CMOS logic cells. The hybrid PTL/CMOS logic synthesis can generate appropriate circuits considering various design constraints. The proposed multilevel PTL logic cells are automatically constructed from only a few basic cells. Postlayout simulations with UMC 90-nm technology are presented based on the standard cell library with pure PTL, pure CMOS, or hybrid PTL/CMOS cells. Experimental results show that, in most cases, pure PTL circuits have smaller area and power, whereas CMOS circuits, in general, have smaller delay.      

Process Variation-Aware Timing Optimization for Dynamic and Mixed-Static-Dynamic CMOS Logic

The advancement in CMOS technology with the shrinking device size towards 32 nm has allowed for placement of billions of transistor on a single microprocessor chip. Simultaneously, it reduced the logic gate delays to the order of pico seconds. However, these low delays and shrinking device sizes have presented design engineers with two major challenges: timing optimization at high frequencies, and minimizing the vulnerability from process variations. Answering these challenges, this paper presents a process variation-aware transistor sizing algorithm for dynamic CMOS logic, and a process variation-aware timing optimization flow for mixed-static-dynamic CMOS logic. Through implementation on several benchmark circuits, the proposed transistor sizing algorithm for dynamic CMOS logic has demonstrated an average performance improvement in delay by 28%, uncertainty from process variations by 32%, while sacrificing an area of 39%. Also, through implementation on benchmark circuits and a 64-b parallel binary adder, the proposed timing optimization flow for mixed-static-dynamic CMOS logic has demonstrated a performance improvement in delay by 17% and uncertainty from process variations by 13%.      

A technology-independent approach to custom analog cell generation

STAT (schematic to artwork transistor), a set of software tools designed to generate full-custom layouts of analog cells from arbitrary schematic topologies in any IC technology, is described. The system enables the circuit designer to annotate the schematic with component matching and symmetry relationships. Software subroutines are then used to generate device artwork. The placement program implements algorithms in which groups of related components are placed first so that annotated layout constraints are preserved. A novel placement method is offered which recognizes that analog schematic topologies often reflect desirable layout configurations. A flexible multilayer cell-level router has been developed to complete the device interconnection. The STAT system functions in either a polygon or symbolic layout environment. The symbolic layout allows design-rule and technology changes to be made easily and is designed to interface with a commercial compaction program to produce the final layout     

THE QUATERNARY INTERFACE TECHNIQUE IN ECL INTEGRATED CIRCUITS

The theory of differential current switches which applies to the design of multivaluedECL circuits is introduced.In this theory,the switching state of differential transistor pairand signal in ECL circuits are described by switching variables and quaternary signal variables,respectively.he connection operations between the two kinds of variables are introduced todescribe the action process between switching element and signal in the circuits.Based on thistheory,two kinds of interface circuits-2-4 encoder and 4-2 decoder are designed.The computersimulation for the designed circuits by using SPICE program confirms that both circuits havecorrect logic functions,desired DO transfer characteristics and transient characteristics.Theseinterface circuits are compatible with binary circuits in the integrated process,the power supplyequipment,the logic stage and the transient characteristic.Therefore,they can be used as input-output interface of the existing binary ECL integrated circuits so as to decrease the number ofpins of a chip and the connections between chips.     

CMOS/SOS automated universal array

The CMOS/SOS automated universal array (AUA) is a new, minimum-cost approach for generating custom LSI devices. This is achieved by implementing a compatible automatic placement and routing program which automatically generates a single, customized interconnect metal level that defines the desired logical function. The AUA topological design is specifically configured to be compatible with automatic layout techniques, and as a result the AUA system can guarantee 100 percent connectivity with greater than 90 percent gate utilization for any random-logic application. The CMOS/SOS AUA is an equivalent 800-gate design consisting of a repetitive pattern of 640 basic internal cells and 62 basic peripheral cells for I/O functions, as well as a variety of special cells located in the periphery which meet the needs of most digital applications that may be encountered. Depending on the logic design complexity and computer used, an artwork tape depicting the metallized layout pattern can be generated within 24 h.     

Junction degradation in bipolar transistors and the reliabilityimposed constraints to scaling and design

The stress-induced leakage current is predominantly a Shockley-Read-Hall-like generation-recombination current. As the stress progresses, the leakage current increases, eventually reaches a maximum and then decays. The leakage current lowers the current gain at low biases. It affects the narrow-emitter transistors more since it is proportional to the emitter edge length. But, its impact is less significant if the transistor is operated at a high V_be , as required by constant-current scaling. The loss of the current gain does not affect the circuit speed directly. Instead, it reduces the logic swing and thus the noise margin of the circuit. The design to absorb the degradation with a larger initial logic swing results in a speed penalty. The reverse-stress-induced junction degradation can be eliminated by properly designing the circuit There is no concern for emitter-coupled logic (ECL) circuits when the logic swing is less than the V_be of the transistors     

ECOP:一种基于单元行划分的标准单元模式增量布局算法

针对标准单元模式超大规模集成电路增量式布局问题 ,提出了一个全新的增量布局算法 ECOP.该算法一改以往布局算法中以单元为中心的做法 ,变为以单元行为中心 ,围绕单元行来进行单元的插入 ,移动以及各种约束条件的处理 .在划分单元行时 ,始终保持单元行的内部连通性 ,并对单元移动路径进行搜索与优化 .对一组来自美国工业界的设计实例进行了测试 .实验结果表明 ,ECOP算法是非常实用而高效的     

Deep-submicrometer BiCMOS circuit technology for sub-10-ns ECL 4-MbDRAM's

A 0.3-μm sub-10-ns ECL 4-Mb BiCMOS DRAM design is described. The results obtained are: (1) a V_cc connection limiter with a BiCMOS output circuit is chosen due to ease of design, excellent device reliability and layout area; (2) a mostly CMOS periphery with a specific bipolar use provides better performances at high speed and low power; (3) the direct sensing scheme of a single-stage MOS preamplifier combined with a bipolar main amplifier offers high speed; and (4) the strict control of MOS transistor parameters has been proven to be more important in obtaining high speed DRAMs, based on the 4-Mb design     

一种ECL可编程分频器的研制

本文在分析TTL可编程分频器逻辑功能的基础上,设计了模数在1～16之间任意可变的ECL可编程分频器,利用SPICE电路模拟程序对电路进行了直流和瞬态分析。同时,针对超高速ECL电路的特点,完成了电路版图及工艺设计,并进行了工艺试制。做出了工作频率可达50MHz以上的ECL可编程分频器,比原TTL可编程分频器的工作频率提高了5倍之多。