Synthesis of Power Distribution to Manage Signal Integrity in Mixed-Signal ICs

by Balsha R. Stanisic, Rob A. Rutenbar, L. Richard Carley

Overview

In the early days of VLSI, the design of the power distribution for an integrated cir­ cuit was rather simple. Power distribution —the design of the geometric topology for the network of wires that connect the various power supplies, the widths of the individual segments for each of these wires, the number and location of the power I/O pins around the periphery of the chip —was simple because the chips were simpler. Few available wiring layers forced floorplans that allowed simple, planar (non-over­ lapping) power networks. Lower speeds and circuit density made the choice of the wire widths easier: we made them just fat enough to avoid resistive voltage drops due to switching currents in the supply network. And we just didn't need enormous numbers of power and ground pins on the package for the chips to work. It's not so simple any more. Increased integration has forced us to focus on reliability concerns such as metal elec­ tromigration, which affects wire sizing decisions in the power network. Extra metal layers have allowed more flexibility in the topological layout of the power networks.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780792397342
Publisher:	Springer US
Publication date:	05/31/1996
Edition description:	1996
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

1 Introduction.- 1.1 Focus.- 1.2 Motivation.- 1.3 Research Overview.- 1.4 Preview of Results.- 1.5 Book Organization.- 2 Power Distribution Noise and Physical Design Methods.- 2.1 Analog Design Problem Characteristics.- 2.2 Design Style Concerns.- 2.3 Analog Power Distribution Design Concerns.- 2.4 Previous Research in Power Distribution Synthesis.- 2.5 Critical Analysis.- 2.6 Concluding Remarks.- 3 Physical Design and Optimization.- 3.1 New Optimization-based Strategy.- 3.2 Design Style Selection.- 3.3 Power Bus Topology Selection and Sizing.- 3.4 Power I/O Cell Assignment.- 3.5 Simultaneous Power Bus and I/O Cell Optimization.- 3.6 Review of Simulated Annealing.- 3.7 Simulated Annealing Formulation.- 3.8 Concluding Remarks.- 4 DC, AC, and Transient Electrical Models and Analysis.- 4.1 Electrical Formulation Objectives.- 4.2 Mapping Power Bus and I/O Cell Geometry to Electricity.- 4.3 Modeling Macrocells.- 4.4 Modeling Interconnect.- 4.5 Modeling Chip Substrate.- 4.6 DC Behavior Evaluation Methods.- 4.7 AC and Transient Behavior Evaluation Methods.- 4.8 Review of Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation (AWE).- 4.9 AWE-based Single Input Switching Behavior.- 4.10 AWE-based Simultaneous Switching Behavior.- 4.11 Concluding Remarks.- 5 Experimental Results.- 5.1 Experimental Plan.- 5.2 Example Nonconvex.- 5.3 Example Analog 1.- 5.4 Example Mixed-Signal1.- 5.5 Example Mixed-Signal2.- 5.6 Example Mixed-Signal3.- 5.7 Example Config 1.- 5.8 Example Stanford.- 5.9 Example Mixed-Signal4.- 5.10 Example CMU.- 5.11 SQP and Annealing, Revisited.- 5.12 Concluding Remarks.- 6 Conclusions.- 6.1 Summary.- 6.2 Contributions.- 6.3 Future Directions.- A Symbolic Convolution of Special Waveforms.- A.1 Specialized Waveforms.- A.1.1 Trap.- A.1.2. Sinsq.- A.2 Fundamental Waveforms.- A.2.1 Step.- A.2.2Ramp.- A.2.3 Cosine.- B Circuit Element Approximation of Chip Substrate.- B.1 Underlying Treatment.- B.2 General Bulk Field Derivation.- B.3 Box Integration.

Editorial Reviews

A description of algorithms for analog power distribution synthesis demonstrating their effectiveness and taking a poke at existing digital power bus synthesis algorithms. A suitable resource for CAD designers and circuit researchers, the volume addresses power distribution synthesis for mixed signal integrated circuits and presents challenges in power distribution design as well as automated methods to overcome them. Other topics include the synthesis of power busses power I/O cell assignment by evaluating DC, AC, and transient interaction between macros, busses, chip substrate, and package. Includes illustrations. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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