Method for balancing a clock tree
US6351840B1 · kind B1 · utility
Assignee
Inventor
Key dates
| Filing date | Dec 9, 1999 |
| Grant date | Feb 26, 2002 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Dec 9, 2019 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC G)Physics
- CPC primaryG06F1/10
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
In an integrated circuit (IC) design, a set of K×N clocked IC devices (“syncs”) such as flip-flops and latches are organized into K clusters of N syncs each, with each cluster being clocked by a separate clock tree buffer. An improvement to a conventional “K-center” method for assigning syncs to clusters is disclosed. The improved method, which reduces the separation between syncs within the clusters, initially employs the conventional K-center method to preliminarily assign the K×N syncs to K clusters having N syncs per cluster. The improved method thereafter ascertains boundaries of rectangular areas of the IC occupied by the separate clusters. When areas of any group of M>1 clusters overlap, the K-center meth is repeated to reassign the set of M×N syncs included in e M overlapping clusters to a new set of M clusters. The new set of M clusters are less likely to overlap.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.