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PD Flow I – Floorplan
by Jedi (http://www.signo semi.com/author/somashekhar/) | May 19, 2017 |
Weekly-Training-Sessions (http://www.signo semi.com/category/weekly-training-
sessions/) | 34 comments (http://www.signo semi.com/ oorplan-placement-
2/#respond)
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Import design is the rst step in Physical Design. In this stage all required inputs &
required references are read into the tool. And also basic checks are done (design,
technology consistency).
Inputs required
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1. Check errors & warning while reading netlist. Understand all warnings
2. Check for uniqui cation & empty modules
3. Check errors & warning while reading timing constraints. Understand all warnings
4. Check errors & warning while reading UPF/CPF. Understand all warnings
5. Timing QoR (Minimal violations with xable WNS & TNS)
6. Check MV Design (Equivalent to LP checks). Fix all errors & understand all
warning
7. Check for assign & tri statements (Usually its checked & xed after Synthesis)
It is always a good practice to do quick timing analyses after import design. Even
though post synthesis timing analyses is done in timing tool (PT, Tempus/ETS), it’s
better to check post synthesis timing QoR in PnR tools also (ICC, Innovus, Olympus)
before actual implementation starts.
Why it is required?
ICC/Innovus optimizes critical timing paths (violating paths) which are seen by it.
There can be chances that PnR tool is showing a complete di erent timing QoR
(huge violations) compared to Post Syn QoR seen in PT/Tempus. It can be because
of correlation issue / constraints issue. We can avoid unnecessary optimization;
timing & design closure will be easy if we correlate Import Design timing QoR with
Post Syn timing QoR.
2. FLOORPLAN
Floorplan is one the critical & important step in Physical design. Quality of your
Chip / Design implementation depends on how good is the Floorplan. A good
oorplan can be make implementation process (place, cts, route & timing closure)
cake walk. On similar lines a bad oorplan can create all kind issues in the design
(congestion, timing, noise, ir, routing issues). A bad oorplan will blow up the area,
power & a ects reliability, life of the IC and also it can increase overall IC cost
(more e ort to closure, more LVTs/ULVTs)
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1. Timing critical
2. Routing critical / Congestion
3. Blocks with complex Clock structure
1. Abutted (All inter block pin connections are done through FTs)
2. Non abutted (Channel based. All inter block pin connections are routed in
channels)
3. Mix of both – partially abutted with some channels
FLOORPLAN STEPS
Detailed discussion
In most of the case, block size & shape is decided by FC oorplan. Rectangle/Square
shape is best in terms of oorplan & further design closure. But in many case,
oorplan can be of rectilinear shape with many notches. It is always good practice
to discuss with FC oorplan team for any scope to improve block/partition level
oorplan.
In multi-voltage & multi power domain designs, voltage areas are required to guide
the tool to understand di erent domains.
1. Abutted voltage area (Cells are not allowed to place in default voltage area)
As is no default domain area, voltage area feed-through (VA-FT) are required
to cross over di erent voltage areas.
2. Non-abutted voltage area (Cells are allowed to place in default voltage area)
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3. IO / Pin placement
IOs / Pins are placed at the boundary of the block. Usually pin placement
information is pushed down from FC oorplan. But these locations can be changed
based on block critical requirements. Any change in pin location has to be discussed
with FC oorplan team. Timing critical interfaces need special attention, like next 2-
3 levels of logic from IOs are pre-placed near the IOs). Source synchronous
interfaces requires delay balancing taking OCV into considerations (This will
require manual placement & scripting)
4. Row creation
Rows area created in the design using cell-site (unit / basic). Rows aid in systematic
placement of standard cells. And standard cell power routes done considering rows.
Rows can be cut, wherever cell placement is not allowed OR hard placement
blockage can also be used.
5. Macro placement
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Step 2 – Follow data ow / hierarchy to place the Macros. Make use of reference
oorplan if available
Step 3 – All the pins of the Macros should point towards the core logic
Step 4 – Channels b/w macros should be big enough to accommodate all routing
reqs & should get a minimum of one pair VDD & VSS power grids in the channel
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Most of the PnR tools provide automatic oorplan option. Automatic oorplan
option creates its own macro placement based on the e ort & other options. But
these options are not matured enough to give optimum oorplan for all kind of
designs. This option will be handy, when design has 100s of Macros, but generated
oorplan needs lot of modi cation for further optimizations.
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Power switches are required to gate the power supply of gated domain when not
required. Power switches are MT-CMOS (multi-threshold) cells, which will have very
high threshold voltage when device is OFF & very low threshold voltage when
device is on.
Power switches are inserted in power mesh & supply to all gated domain cells will
be through power switches. Hence a single / few switches are not enough. A strong
network of power switches connected in daisy chain fashion will be inserted in the
design.
8. Adding special cells (Well Taps, EndCaps, Spare Cells, Metal ECO-able cells etc)
Well connection – Almost all standard cell libraries are tap-less (substrate
connections are not done @ cell level). So Well-taps cells are added in
partition/chip level to tie the wells to VDD/VSS. Tap-gate spacing has to be met
while adding well-tap array.
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EndCap Cells – These cells are inserted to take care of boundary DRC of Wells &
Other layers. End Cap Cells ensure proper terminations of rows, so that no DRC are
created. This is a physical-only cell.
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34 Comments
Sidhant on July 16, 2017 at 10:54 AM
Very well written Som. Simple and informative.
Reply
Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on October 3, 2017 at 4:50 PM
Reply
1. Abutted (All inter block pin connections are done through “FTs”)
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on October 3, 2017 at 4:06 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on November 6, 2017 at 10:54 AM
For the rst time, you do a normal synthesis & take the
netlist into PnR tool, create the oorplan (size, macro
placement & io pin placement). Then you can do physical-
aware synthesis, using the oorplan information.
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on November 24, 2017 at 10:47 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on November 27, 2017 at 12:25 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on November 29, 2017 at 12:24 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on November 30, 2017 at 2:30 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on December 6, 2017 at 11:34 AM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on February 19, 2018 at 4:25 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on February 19, 2018 at 4:28 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on February 19, 2018 at 4:25 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on April 30, 2018 at 7:07 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on April 30, 2018 at 7:02 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on September 14, 2018 at 7:08 PM
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Jedi
(http://www.signo semi.com/user/somashekhar/)
on September 14, 2018 at 7:03 PM
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