Patent · US Expired

Method for verifying design rule checking software

US6063132A · kind A · utility

264Cited by
18References
30Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJun 26, 1998
Grant dateMay 16, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateJun 26, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG06F30/398
  • WIPO fieldComputer technology
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method using a generate-and-verify computer program product to generate by repetitive passes a design rules checking computer program, wherein the design rules are described in a file called a runset. The design rules checking program is used for exhaustive testing of VLSI chips for compliance to the design rules of a given VLSI fabrication process. The runset is repeatedly iterated in loop fashion with respect to a testcase file containing groups of layout structures or shapes used for verifying the correctness of the runset. A general purpose shapes processing program creates an error shapes file for storing geometrical errors found in each said layout structure. Two additional shapes are used in the verification process: user boundary shapes for defining areas in which errors are not to be detected for a given design rule, and automated boundary shapes created to surround each said layout structure with a boundary that defines regions where error shapes can occur. An association table is created which is a compilation of the error shapes, user boundary shapes, and automated boundary shapes associated with each layout structure. The association table is processed to determine t…

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.