JP3255137B2 - Wiring design apparatus and wiring design method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a wiring design apparatus, a wiring design method, and a recording medium for designing circuit wiring, and more particularly to a wiring design apparatus for designing a wiring area to be reduced by a simple method. The present invention relates to a wiring design method and a recording medium.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Wiring of a semiconductor integrated circuit or the like is, for example, C
It is designed by AD (computer aided design).
2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, as miniaturization and miniaturization of semiconductor integrated circuits and the like have progressed, it has become an important issue to efficiently perform wiring and reduce chip area and the like.

Techniques for designing such an efficient wiring and automatic wiring are disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Hei 5-258016 and Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei 6-42255. According to the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-258016, the wiring density of a wiring running in a predetermined region including each pin is calculated for each unwired pin pair, and the wiring density is maximized. Pin pairs are automatically wired. Each time one pin pair is wired, the calculation of the wiring density is repeated for an unwired pin pair.

[0004] In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-42255, a CPU (Central Procedures) is placed on an XY plane.
Singu Unit), register and other functional blocks are arranged.
When the functional blocks connected to each other face each other, the positions of the terminals are determined so that the wiring is straight between the functional blocks.

[0005]

Problems to be Solved by the Invention
In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6, the wiring density changes each time one pin pair is wired, so that the wiring density in the same region may have to be calculated many times. Therefore, there is a problem that the calculation time increases and the efficiency is low.

In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-42255, the positions of the terminals are determined so that the functional blocks disposed opposite to each other are wired in a straight line. Therefore, when the positions of the terminals are predetermined and cannot be changed, there is a problem that even if this technique is applied, wiring cannot be performed efficiently. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a wiring design apparatus and a wiring design method for efficiently wiring with a simple method and reducing the wiring area.

[0007]

Means for Solving the Problems] To achieve the above object, the wiring design apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the position
Is a wiring design apparatus that determines wiring between predetermined terminals, among terminal pairs that are terminals connected to each other,
On the xy coordinate defined on the circuit forming surface, the x coordinate and y
It is characterized by comprising a pair detecting means for detecting a terminal pair having one of the coincident coordinates, and a wiring determining means for determining that the terminal pair detected by the pair detecting means is wired in a straight line.

According to the present invention, it is determined that a terminal pair having one of the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate is preferentially wired in a straight line. Wiring can be performed without bending as necessary.
That is, the wiring can be easily determined from the coordinates, and the wiring area can be reduced.

In the pair detecting means, the number of terminal pairs that can be wired continuously in a straight line among the terminal pairs having the same one of the x coordinate and the y coordinate is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference number n. The image processing apparatus may further include a straight line group detection unit that detects a straight line group, and the wiring determination unit may determine that the straight line group is wired by a straight line.

[0010] In this way, by giving priority to the straight line wiring of the straight line group having a small number of terminal pairs, it is possible to prevent the wiring area from being increased on the contrary. That is, by giving priority to the straight line group of the straight line group in which the number of terminal pairs that can be wired continuously in a straight line is n or more, the wiring area can be efficiently reduced.

The wiring determining means may determine the wiring of the straight line group in the descending order of the number of terminal pairs in the straight line group.

A counting means for counting the number of terminal pairs included in a net constituted by a plurality of terminals wired in a row; a net detecting means for detecting a net having the number of terminal pairs equal to or greater than a reference number n Means, and the straight line group detecting means may detect a straight line group included in the net detected by the net detecting means.
In this case, the number of terminal pairs included in the net is n
And a net that can be easily routed by a method similar to the conventional method can be excluded. Then, by preferentially arranging the straight line groups included in the net having the number of terminal pairs of n or more as straight lines, the wiring area can be efficiently reduced.

[0013] A wiring design method according to a second aspect of the present invention is a wiring design method for determining a wiring between terminals whose positions are predetermined , wherein a circuit among a pair of terminals connected to each other is provided. A pair detecting step of detecting a terminal pair having one of the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate on the xy coordinate defined on the forming surface, and wiring the terminal pair detected by the pair detecting means in a straight line. A wiring determination step to determine,
Characterized by the following.

In the pair detecting step, the number of terminal pairs that can be wired continuously in a straight line among the terminal pairs having one of the x coordinate and the y coordinate being equal to or more than a predetermined reference number n. The method may further include a straight line group detecting step of detecting a straight line group, and the wiring determining step may determine that the straight line groups are wired by straight lines.

[0015] The wiring determining step may include a step of determining the wiring of the straight line group in the descending order of the number of terminal pairs in the straight line group. A counting step of counting the number of terminal pairs included in a net constituted by a plurality of terminals wired in a row, and a net detecting step of detecting a net in which the number of the terminal pairs is equal to or greater than a reference number n, And the straight line group detecting step may include a step of detecting a straight line group included in the net detected by the net detecting means.

A computer-readable recording medium according to a third aspect of the present invention stores a computer in a location where
Of the terminal pairs are terminals connected to each other defined because, on x-y coordinates defined on the circuit formation surface, a pair detecting unit for detecting a terminal pair in which one of x and y coordinates coincide, A program and data for causing the terminal pair detected by the pair detection unit to function as a wiring design device including: a wiring determination unit that determines that a terminal pair is wired in a straight line.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Next, a semiconductor integrated circuit wiring designing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. This wiring design apparatus includes a plurality of elements (CPUs (Central Processing Units) incorporated in a semiconductor integrated circuit.
nit), register, etc.)
It is determined as described later. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing the configuration of the wiring design device.

As shown in FIG. 1, the wiring design device includes an input unit 10, a wiring determination unit 20, an output unit 30, a control unit 4
0. The input unit 10 is connected to an external computer, a recording medium, and the like, receives data output from these, and outputs the data to the wiring determination unit 20.
The content of the data is, for example, the arrangement position of each terminal and which terminals are connected in a continuous line.

Using the data from the input unit 10, the wiring determination unit 20 performs a wiring determination process described later to determine the wiring between the terminals. The output unit 30 is connected to an external computer, a wiring device that actually connects terminals, and the like, and outputs a processing result of the wiring determination unit 20. The control unit 40 controls the operation of each of the above-described units constituting the wiring design device.

Next, the operation of the wiring design apparatus having the above configuration will be described. The operation of the wiring design apparatus described below is controlled by the control unit 40. First, in an external computer or the like, the arrangement (layout) of elements formed on one chip is determined. That is, the arrangement position of each terminal and which terminal is connected and connected in a row are determined. Note that, for example, xy coordinates are defined on the chip (circuit formation surface), and the arrangement position of each terminal is indicated by coordinates. A plurality of terminals wired in a row are classified as a group (net), for example, as shown in FIG. Note that FIG.
The wavy lines in the middle indicate each net.

In each net, the fewer the terminals (terminal pairs) connected to each other, the easier the wiring. Therefore, in order to operate the above wiring design apparatus efficiently, wiring is determined by a line segment search method, a maze method, or the like for a net having a smaller number of terminal pairs than a certain number, as in the related art. The number n of reference pairs, which is a reference for determining whether or not to determine a wiring by the same method as in the related art, is used as data along with information such as the arrangement (coordinates) of each terminal and which terminals are connected in a row. The data is input to the input unit 10 of the wiring design device from an external computer or the like. In addition, since the terminals included in one net are wired continuously, if the number of terminals included in one net is k, the number of terminal pairs is represented as k−1 in the most efficient wiring. be able to.

The input unit 10 outputs data received from an external computer or the like to the wiring determination unit 20. The wiring determination unit 20 responds to data input from the input unit 10
The following wiring determination processing is started.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart showing a wiring determination process performed by the wiring determination unit 20. Using the data from the input unit 10, the wiring determination unit 20 counts the number of terminal pairs included in each net, and detects a net having a terminal pair equal to or larger than the reference number n (step 101). ).
Next, the wiring determination unit 20 acquires the coordinates of each terminal included in each net detected in step 101 (step 1).
02).

In the case where two terminals are wired, a straight line between the terminals minimizes the wiring area. However, in a fine circuit such as a semiconductor integrated circuit or the like, the wiring direction is
In many cases, only the directions (x direction and y direction) are used. That is,
When wiring terminals having different x-coordinates and y-coordinates, the wiring is bent at least once, and the distance is at least the Manhattan distance. Therefore, in order to reduce the wiring area, it is better to connect as many terminals as possible with straight lines. Further, in a portion where a plurality of terminal pairs can be connected continuously in a straight line (straight line group), the other terminal pairs are wired first, so that it is likely that wiring cannot be performed in a straight line. For this purpose, the wiring determination unit 20 counts the number m of terminal pairs that match either the x-coordinate or the y-coordinate and can be connected in a straight line from the terminal coordinates acquired in step 102. Then, the wiring determination unit 20 detects a straight line group in which the number m of the terminal pairs is n or more (Step 103).

The wiring determining unit 20 determines that the straight line groups detected in step 103 are to be wired in a straight line, for example, in descending order of the number m of terminal pairs (step 104). When the number m of the terminal pairs is less than n, the number of the terminal pairs that can be wired in a straight line is small, so that giving priority to the straight line wiring may increase the wiring area. Therefore, the wiring determination unit 20 determines in step 1
For terminal pairs other than the terminal pair determined to be wired in a straight line in 04, wiring is determined by, for example, a line segment search method, a maze method, or the like (step 105).

The wiring determining unit 20 outputs wiring information relating to the wiring of each terminal pair determined in the above processing to the output unit 3.
0 (step 106), and the wiring determination processing ends. The output unit 30 outputs the wiring information output from the wiring determination unit 20 to an external computer, a wiring device, or the like. Then, the external computer, the wiring device, and the like actually wire the terminals using the wiring information.

Next, the operation of the above-described wiring design apparatus will be described with reference to a specific example. First, a layout such as an arrangement of elements formed on one chip is determined in an external computer or the like. In this specific example, it is assumed that the arrangement of the terminals formed on the chip is the same as that shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 2, one chip has a terminal t _1.
Total of 19 terminals ~t ₁₉ is arranged, a group of terminals connected in a series (net) are determined as shown by the broken line in FIG. _{Specifically,} t 1 ~t ₃ Internet _1, t 4 ~t ₇ Internet _{2, t} 8 _{~t 13} Internet _{3, t} 1 4 _{~t 17} Internet _{4, t} 18 _{~t 19} Internet 5 Respectively.

Information on the arrangement position and connection of each terminal as described above is input as data to the input unit 10 of the wiring design apparatus from an external computer or the like. In this specific example, the number n of reference pairs is two. The input unit 10 transmits data received from an external computer or the like to the wiring determination unit 2.
Output to 0.

The wiring determination section 20 starts the above-described wiring determination processing in response to data input from the input section 10.
Using the data from the input unit 10, the wiring determination unit 20 counts the number of terminal pairs included in each net, and detects a net having a terminal pair having the reference pair number 2 or more (Step 101). ). In this case, the number of terminal pairs included in each net is 2 for net 1, 3 for net 2, and 3 for net.
Is 5, net 4 is 3, and net 5 is 1. Therefore, in this process, nets 1, 2, 3, and 4 are detected.

Next, the wiring determination unit 20 determines in step 101
The coordinates of each terminal included in each net detected in step are acquired (step 102). The wiring determination unit 20 counts the number m of terminal pairs that match either the x coordinate or the y coordinate and can be connected in a straight line from the acquired terminal coordinates, and the number m of the terminal pairs is two. The straight line group described above is detected (step 103).

The terminals constituting each straight line group detected in step 103 are, specifically, t ₅ , t ₆ , t ₇ and t ₉ , t ₁₀ , t ₁₁ and t ₁₄ , t ₁₅ , t ₁₆ , t
_Seventeen . Then, the wiring determination unit 20 determines in step 10
It is determined that the straight line groups detected in step 3 are to be wired with straight lines in descending order of the number m of terminal pairs (step 104).

The wiring determination unit 20 determines wiring for the terminal pairs other than the terminal pairs determined to be wired in a straight line in the above-described processing by the same method as in the related art (step 105). Then, the wiring determination unit 20 outputs the wiring information regarding the wiring of each terminal pair determined in the above processing to the output unit 3.
0 (step 106), and the wiring determination processing ends. The output unit 30 outputs the wiring information output from the wiring determination unit 20 to an external computer, a wiring device, or the like,
The external computer, the wiring device, and the like actually wire the terminals using the wiring information.

As described above, the wiring area can be reduced by preferentially determining the wiring of the terminal pair in which the x-coordinate or the y-coordinate coincides and can be wired continuously and in a straight line. Specifically, when the terminal pairs are wired without performing the above processing, for example, when the wiring is determined in the order of the net having the largest number of terminals (the number of terminal pairs), the terminal t ₁₄ shown in FIG.
Before wiring ~t ₁₇ is determined, there is a case where the wiring terminal t ₈ and the terminal t ₉ from being determined. For example, FIG.
As shown in the wiring terminal _{t 8} and the terminal _{t 9} is the terminal t
When passing between the ₁₅ and the terminal _{t 16,} the terminal _{t 15} and the terminal t
The wiring between the wirings ₁₆ and ₁₆ is no longer a straight line, and the wiring area increases accordingly.

On the other hand, if either x-coordinate or y-coordinate coincides with the above processing and it is determined that a pair of terminals that can be wired continuously in a straight line is preferentially wired in a straight line, for example, FIG. as shown, the terminal _t 14 ~t shown in FIG. 2
_{After 17} of the wiring is determined to linear, terminal t ₈ and the terminal t
The wiring of No. ₉ is determined in the same manner as in the prior art. That is, by performing the above-described processing, unnecessary bending of the wiring of the terminal pair that can be wired in a straight line is reduced, and the wiring area can be reduced.

Further, as described above, by deciding the wiring in order from the one having the largest number of terminal pairs that can be connected in a straight line, the wiring of the terminal pair that can greatly contribute to the reduction of the wiring area is given priority. Can be determined. Therefore, the wiring area can be efficiently reduced. Further, the above-described processing can be easily performed because mainly the coordinates of each terminal pair are used.

In the case where a plurality of wirings intersect by preferentially determining wirings as described above,
The wiring may be a multilayer wiring. Further, the wiring design apparatus described above can be applied not only to a semiconductor integrated circuit, but also to a case where wiring of various circuits formed on a printed circuit board or the like is determined.

Also, in the above embodiment, after detecting a net having terminal pairs equal to or greater than the reference number n, regardless of whether the number of terminal pairs that can be connected in a straight line is n or more. , X-coordinate and y-coordinate may be linearly wired. In this way, for example, when the wiring is a multilayer wiring, the x-coordinate and y
Even if the number of terminal pairs whose coordinates match one another is small, the wiring area does not increase conversely, and the process up to determining the wiring can be simplified.

The wiring design apparatus according to the present invention can be realized by a computer having appropriate peripheral devices without using a dedicated apparatus. For example, a computer stores a program and data for performing the above-described processes on a recording medium (CD).
-Distribution recorded on a ROM or the like, installed, and executed on the OS, thereby realizing the apparatus of the present invention. Further, the method of distributing the program and the data is not limited to the CD-ROM or the like, but may be distributed via a communication line or the like.

[0039]

As is clear from the above description, according to the present invention, it is determined that one of the x-coordinate and the y-coordinate is coincident and that a pair of terminals that can be wired continuously in a straight line is preferentially wired in a straight line. However, the wiring of the terminal pair that can be wired in a straight line can be wired without unnecessary bending. That is, the wiring can be easily determined from the coordinates, and the wiring area can be reduced.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a wiring design apparatus according to an embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a diagram showing an example of the arrangement and wiring of terminals formed on a chip.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating a wiring determination process performed by a wiring determination unit of the wiring design device.

FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a difference between a wiring of a terminal pair according to a conventional method and a wiring giving priority to a straight wiring.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Input part 20 Wiring determination part 30 Output part 40 Control part

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] (1)Determine the wiring between terminals whose positions are predetermined
Wiring design apparatus, Of the terminal pairs that are connected to each other, the circuit formation surface
On the xy coordinates defined in, one of the x and y coordinates
Pair detecting means for detecting a terminal pair that matches The terminal pair detected by the pair detecting means is represented by a straight line.
Wiring determination means for determining wiring,  The pair detecting means is configured to match one of the x coordinate and the y coordinate.
Terminal pairs that can be connected in a straight line.
Is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference number n.
A straight line group detecting unit for detecting a group, wherein the wiring determining unit connects the straight line group with a straight line.
A wiring design apparatus, Wherein said interconnection determining means of said linear groups, the wiring design apparatus according to claim 1, the number of terminal pairs to determine the interconnection of straight line groups in descending order, and wherein the. 3. A counting means for counting the number of terminal pairs included in a net composed of a plurality of terminals wired in a row, and detecting a net in which the number of terminal pairs is equal to or greater than a reference number n. The wiring design apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising: a net detecting unit, wherein the straight line group detecting unit detects a straight line group included in the net detected by the net detecting unit. (4)Determine the wiring between terminals whose positions are predetermined
Wiring design method, Of the terminal pairs that are connected to each other, the circuit formation surface
On the xy coordinates defined in, one of the x and y coordinates
A pair detection step of detecting a terminal pair that matches The pen
Connect the terminal pairs detected by the
Wiring determination step of determining that  In the pair detecting step, one of the x coordinate and the y coordinate is coincident.
Terminal pairs that can be connected in a straight line.
Is equal to or greater than a predetermined reference number n.
A straight line group detecting step of detecting a group, wherein the wiring determining step includes wiring the straight line groups with straight lines.
And a wiring design method. 5. The wiring design method according to claim 4 , wherein the wiring determining step includes a step of determining wiring of the straight line group in the descending order of the number of terminal pairs in the straight line group. . 6. A counting step for counting the number of terminal pairs included in a net composed of a plurality of terminals wired in a row, and detecting a net whose number of terminal pairs is equal to or greater than a reference number n. The wiring design according to claim 4 , further comprising: a net detection step; wherein the straight line group detection step includes a step of detecting a straight line group included in the net detected by the net detection means. Method.