Spare Cells in Physical Design

Once a chip is fabricated and if any functionality issue is found in the chip or some functionality enhancement is required in the next fabrication. This might be a very challenging task without spare cells. But with the help of pre-placed spare cells, these changes can be done very easily. In this article, we will … Read more

DeCap Cells in Physical Design | Use of Decap Cells in PD

Decap cells are basically a charge storing device made of the capacitors and used to support the instant current requirement in the power delivery network. There are various reasons for the instant large current requirement in the circuit and if there are no adequate measures have taken to handle this requirement, power droop or ground … Read more

Electromigration Effect in VLSI

Electromigration is an important issue especially in lower technology node where the cross-sectional area of metal interconnects is very less. In this article, we will discuss the phenomenon of electromigration, the effects of electromigration and the ways to prevent the electromigration issue.    Electromigration: When a high current density passes through a metal interconnect, the … Read more

Inputs for Physical Design | Physical Design input files

In this article, we will discuss what are the inputs required to begin the physical design. In the previous article, we discussed the physical design flow and sanity checks before the floorplan. Inputs required for physical design can be categorised broadly into two types. Some inputs are mandatory in all the cases but some are … Read more

Sanity Checks before Floorplan in Physical Design

Sanity checks are an important step for physical design engineers to make sure that the inputs received for physical design are correct and consistent. Any issues in the input files may cause problems in the later stages. So it is important to perform the sanity checks in the initial stage that is when the design … Read more