Design structure for facilitating engineering changes in integrated circuits

US7480888B1 · kind B1 · utility

Assignee

• International Business Machines Corporation · US

Inventors

• Clarence R. Ogilvie · Waterbury, US
• Charles B. Winn · Colchester, US
• David W. Milton · Underhill, US
• Kenneth A. Lauricella · Colchester, US
• Nitin Sharma · Kenosha, US
• Paul M. Schanely · South Burlington, US
• Robert D. Herzl · South Burlington, US
• Robert S. Horton · Colchester, US
• Tad J. Wilder · South Hero, US
• Douglas P. Nadeau · Underhill, US

Key dates

• Filing date: May 21, 2008
• Grant date: Jan 20, 2009
• Expiry date: May 21, 2028

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G06F30/34
• WIPO field: Computer technology
• WIPO sector: Electrical engineering

Abstract

A design structure embodied in a machine-readable medium is disclosed in one embodiment of the invention as including a flexible logic block to facilitate engineering changes at selected locations within an IC. The flexible logic block has a consistent and identifiable structure such that a simple automated process may be used to reconfigure the structure to perform different logical operations. In certain embodiments, the flexible logic block includes a circuit, such as a multiplexer, having multiple inputs and at least one output. A metal interconnect structure is coupled to the inputs and enables connection of each of the inputs to one of several electrical potentials using a focused-ion-beam (FIB) tool. In this way, the circuit may be configured to perform different logical operations after components in the IC exist in hardware.