DFM Metrics for Standard Cells

Design for Manufacturability (DFM) is becoming increasingly important as process geometries shrink. Conventional design rule pass/fail is not adequate to quantify DFM compliance. Instead, metrics are needed to compare designs. Yield might be an ideal metric, but is difficult to calculate objectively without significant manufacturing data. This paper investigates the qualities that good metrics require and shows an example of an approach that seems promising. 1 Background and motivation Standard cells are a key part of the infrastructure of modern systems on chip (SOC). They provide the building blocks for creating large complex functions in both application-specific and semi-custom domains. Together with automated design tools, libraries of standard cells are a fundamental part of today’s design process. These days, with the increasing importance of manufacturability, it is important that standard cells incorporate DFM as a fundamental part of the design process. In order to balance...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: ISQED
• Authors: Robert C. Aitken
• Keywords: Cells Incorporate Dfm, Hardware, ISQED 2006, Motivation Standard Cells, Standard Cells