Cell-based power grid (PG) architecture

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10366199-B2
Application number	US-201715484615-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2017
Priority date	Apr 11, 2017
Publication date	Jul 30, 2019
Grant date	Jul 30, 2019

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure are directed to a metal only cell-based power grid (PG) architecture. In accordance with one aspect, the power gird (PG) architecture includes a cell building block structure with a N×M grid configuration including N cell building blocks arranged in a first direction and M cell building blocks arranged in a second direction, wherein the first direction and the second direction are orthogonal to one another; and a plurality of power grid (PG) cells, wherein each of the N cell building blocks and each of the M cell building blocks are occupied by a PG cell of the plurality of PG cells.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A power grid (PG) architecture, comprising:
a cell building block structure with a N×M grid configuration including N cell building blocks arranged in a first direction and M cell building blocks arranged in a second direction, wherein the first direction and the second direction are orthogonal to one another; and
a plurality of power grid (PG) cells, wherein each of the N cell building blocks and each of the M cell building blocks are occupied by a PG cell of the plurality of PG cells and wherein the plurality of PG cells includes at least one optimized PG cell having cell characteristics optimized by varying a quantity of metal traces for routability or voltage drop or a balance between routability and voltage drop.

2. The power grid (PG) architecture of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of PG cells include one or more basic PG cell.

3. The power grid (PG) architecture of claim 1 , wherein the at least one optimized PG cell includes at least two of the following: a routing optimized PG cell, a voltage drop optimized PG cell or a hybrid optimized PG cell.

4. The power grid (PG) architecture of claim 1 , wherein the value of N equals the value of M.

5. The power grid (PG) architecture of claim 1 , wherein the cell building block structure includes at least two different horizontal grid dimensions.

6. The power grid (PG) architecture of claim 5 , wherein the cell building block structure includes at least two different vertical grid dimensions.

7. A method for placement and routing one or more power grid (PG) cells on a power grid (PG) architecture, the method comprising:
determining a N×M grid configuration of the power grid (PG) architecture, wherein the N×M grid configuration includes NM quantity of cell building blocks;
determining a type of PG cell for placement on one of the cell building blocks; and
placing a PG cell of the determined type of PG cell on the one of the cell building blocks, wherein the PG cell is from a plurality of PG cells and wherein the plurality of PG cells includes at least one optimized PG cell having cell characteristics optimized by varying a quantity of metal traces for routability or voltage drop or a balance between routability and voltage drop.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the type of PG cell is one of the following: a basic PG cell, a routing optimized PG cell, a voltage drop optimized PG cell or a hybrid optimized PG cell.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining if a determination of the type of PG cell has been made for each of the NM quantity of cell building blocks.

10. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining if the PG cell is a basic PG cell, and if the basic PG cell should be replaced by an optimized PG cell.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the optimized PG cell is a routing optimized PG cell, and the routing optimized PG cell includes the quantity of metal traces that is fewer than the quantity of metal traces within the basic PG cell.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the optimized PG cell is a voltage drop optimized PG cell, and the voltage drop optimized PG cell includes the quantity of metal traces that is more than the quantity of metal traces within the basic PG cell.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the optimized PG cell is a hybrid optimized PG cell.

14. The method of claim 7 , further comprising determining at least one horizontal grid dimension A and at least one vertical grid dimension B of the N×M grid configuration.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the horizontal grid dimension A equals the vertical grid dimension B.

16. The method of claim 14 , wherein the horizontal grid dimension A does not equal the vertical grid dimension B.

17. The method of claim 7 , wherein N and M are integer values, and N equals M.

18. The method of claim 7 , wherein N and M are integer values, and N does not equal M.

19. The method of claim 7 , further comprising using one or more electrical interconnects to stitch the PG cell to the one or more PC cells of the power grid (PG) architecture.

20. An apparatus for placement and routing one or more power grid (PG) cells on a power grid (PG) architecture, the apparatus comprising:
means for determining a N×M grid configuration of the power grid (PG) architecture, wherein the N×M grid configuration includes NM quantity of cell building blocks;
means for determining a type of PG cell for placement on one of the cell building blocks; and
means for placing a PG cell of the determined type of PG cell on the one of the cell building blocks, wherein the PG cell is from a plurality of PG cells and wherein the plurality of PG cells includes at least one optimized PG cell having cell characteristics optimized by varying a quantity of metal traces for routability or voltage drop or a balance between routability and voltage drop.

21. The apparatus of claim 20 , wherein the type of PG cell is one of the following: a basic PG cell, a routing optimized PG cell, a voltage drop optimized PG cell or a hybrid optimized PG cell.

22. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising means for determining if a determination of the type of PG cell has been made for each of the NM quantity of cell building blocks.

23. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising means for determining if the PG cell is a basic PG cell, and means for determining if the basic PG cell should be replaced by an optimized PG cell.

24. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the optimized PG cell is a routing optimized PG cell, and the routing optimized PG cell includes the quantity of metal traces that is fewer than the quantity of metal traces within the basic PG cell.

25. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the optimized PG cell is a voltage drop optimized PG cell, and the voltage drop optimized PG cell includes the quantity of metal traces that is more than the quantity of metal traces within the basic PG cell.

26. The apparatus of claim 23 , wherein the optimized PG cell is a hybrid optimized PG cell.

27. The apparatus of claim 20 , further comprising means for determining at least one horizontal grid dimension A and at least one vertical grid dimension B of the N×M grid configuration.

28. The apparatus of claim 7 , further comprising means for stitching one or more electrical interconnects to the PG cell to the one or more PC cells of the power grid (PG) architecture.

29. A computer-readable medium storing computer executable code, operable on a device comprising at least one processor and at least one memory coupled to the at least one processor, wherein the at least one processor is configured to place and route one or more power grid (PG) cells on a power grid (PG) architecture, the computer executable code comprising:
instructions for causing a computer to determine a N×M grid configuration of the power grid (PG) architecture, wherein the N×M grid configuration includes NM quantity of cell building blocks;
instructions for causing the computer to determine a type of PG cell for placement on one of the cell building blocks;
instructions for causing the computer to place a PG cell of the determined type of PG cell on the one of the cell building blocks, wherein the PG cell is from a plurality of PG cells and wherein the plurality of PG cells includes at least one optimized PG cell having cell characteristics optimized by varying a

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Hosmani Jagadish
• Shariff Mohammed Yousuff
• Sanaka Venugopal
• Hou Huibo

Classifications

• H10W20/427 Primary

  Power or ground buses · CPC title

• G06F30/394

  Routing (G06F30/396 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G06F30/39

  Circuit design at the physical level (physical level design for reconfigurable circuits G06F30/347) · CPC title

• G06F30/392

  Floor-planning or layout, e.g. partitioning or placement · CPC title

• G06F2119/06

  Power analysis or power optimisation · CPC title