Merging integrated circuit mask databases formed by different design rules through global mask database edits
US5784292A · kind A · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Apr 14, 1993 |
| Grant date | Jul 21, 1998 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 14, 2013 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F30/39
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
The technique takes advantage of the current ability to increase the density of electronic circuit elements on an integrated circuit chip by combining onto a single chip all of the circuit elements of two or more separate circuits, even when the masks of the separate circuits have been laid out with one or more different design rules, and then connect them to operate together. A mask layout database of one of the circuits at a time is globally changed, with the use of a standard computer software package, to conform it to the design rules of the mask layout database of another circuit, either before or after the circuit databases are combined into a single database.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.