A monitoring system for monitoring delay of critical path timing margins can include a plurality of adaptive monitoring circuits, where each adaptive monitoring circuit is coupled to a corresponding one of a plurality of paths in a circuit. Each adaptive monitoring circuit can include a first delay element designed to cause a mean timing margin of the plurality of N paths in the circuit to be within one minimum mean unit delay; a second delay element coupled to the first delay element and designed to add a mean delay of k*σ.sub.max; a set-up capture element capturing an output of the second delay element; and a set-up warning comparison element that outputs a set-up warning signal when the output of the set-up capture element and a shadow capture element or a capture element of the corresponding one of the plurality of paths do not satisfy an expected condition.

A method to place repeaters on existing structured routes based on user specified locations. Location can be specified in multiple ways. For example, a set of fixed repeating distances (starting from a driver), number of repeaters (spread evenly on net routing), an absolute cutline dissecting the existing nets routing (e.g., x or y coordinate measure from the origin of the cell), relative cutline dissecting the existing nets routing (e.g., x or y coordinate measured from the origin of the nets bounding box), etc. can specify location. A repeater legalization procedure allows a user to arrange repeaters in various forms thus legalizing them to meet specific design requirements. A preview mode is provided where results are presented in the form of annotations (e.g., cartoon drawings) displayed on a canvas (e.g., display screen) rather than in the form of real layout objects in a database.

A method for assembling heterogeneous components. The assembly process includes using a vacuum based pickup mechanism in conjunction with sub-nm precise more alignment techniques resulting in highly accurate, parallel assembly of feedstocks.

An IC design method is provided that includes steps outlined below. A clock tree structure is retrieved from an IC design file. A branch level number of a branch that each of clock units in the clock tree structure locates is determined. A common branch level number of a common branch that closest to each two of the flip-flops is determined. A scan chain structure is retrieved from the IC design file. A wire distance and a clock skew of each two of the flip-flops are determined. A cost is calculated according to the common branch number, the wire distance and the clock skew. An initial point and a terminal point of the flip-flops in the scan chain structure are determined to further calculate a path having a minimum cost. The order of the scan chain structure of the IC design file is updated.

Aspects of the present disclosure address improved systems and methods for rebuffering an integrated circuit (IC) design using a unified improvement scoring algorithm. A plurality of rebuffering candidates are generated based on an initial buffer tree in an integrated circuit (IC) design. A rebuffering candidate in the plurality of rebuffering candidates comprises a modified buffer tree based on the initial buffer tree. A buffering cost of each rebuffering candidate is determined. A reference buffer tree is selected from among the rebuffering candidates based on the buffering cost of each rebuffering candidate. An improvement score of each rebuffering candidate is determined based on the buffering cost of each rebuffering candidate relative to the reference buffer tree. A new buffer tree is selected from among the plurality of rebuffering candidates to replace the initial buffer tree based on the improvement score of each rebuffering candidate.

Aspects of the present disclosure address improved systems and methods for buffer insertion in an integrated circuit (IC) design using a cost function that accounts for edge spacing and stack via constraints associated with cells in the IC design. An integrated circuit (IC) design comprising a routing topology for a net is accessed. A set of candidate insertion locations along the routing topology are identified. A set of buffering candidates is generated based on the candidate insertion locations. A buffering candidate comprises a cell inserted at a candidate insertion location along the routing topology. A cost associated with the buffering candidate is determined based on a number of potential edge spacing conflicts and a number of stack vias associated with the cell. A buffering solution for the net is selected from the buffering candidate based on the cost associated with the buffering candidate.

An IC design method is provided that includes steps outlined below. A clock tree structure is retrieved from an IC design file. A branch level number of a branch that each of clock units in the clock tree structure locates is determined. A common branch level number of a common branch that closest to each two of the flip-flops is determined. A scan chain structure is retrieved from the IC design file. A wire distance and a clock skew of each two of the flip-flops are determined. A cost is calculated according to the common branch number, the wire distance and the clock skew. An initial point and a terminal point of the flip-flops in the scan chain structure are determined to further calculate a path having a minimum cost. The order of the scan chain structure of the IC design file is updated.

Aspects of the present disclosure address improved systems and methods for layer assignment to improve timing in integrated circuit (IC) designs. An initial placement layout of a net of an IC design is accessed. A plurality of buffer insertion candidates is generated using multiple candidate buffer insertion points and multiple layer assignments from among multiple layers of the IC design. Timing characteristics of each buffer insertion candidate are determined, and timing improvements provided by each buffer insertion candidate are determined based on respective timing characteristics. A buffer insertion candidate is selected from the plurality of buffer insertion candidates based on the timing improvement provided by the buffer insertion candidate. A layout instance for the IC is generated based in part on the selected buffer insertion candidate.

Aspects of the present disclosure address systems and methods for shortening clock tree wirelength based on target offsets in connected routes. A method may include accessing a clock tree comprising routes that interconnect a plurality of pins. Each pin corresponds to a terminal of a clock tree instance. The method further includes identifying a first and second terminal of a clock tree instance in the clock tree. The method further includes determining a first offset based on a distance between the first terminal and a branch in a first route connected to the first terminal and determining a second offset based on a distance between the second terminal and a branch in a second route connected to the second terminal. The method further includes moving the clock tree instance from a first location to a second location based on a target offset determined by comparing the first and second offsets.

Aspects of the present disclosure address improved systems and methods for generating a clock tree based on route-driven placement of fan-out clock drivers. Consistent with some embodiments, a method may include constructing a spanning tree comprising one or more paths that interconnect a set of clock sinks of a clock net of an integrated circuit device design. The method further includes calculating a center of the set of the clock sinks based on clock sink locations in the integrated circuit device design and identifying a point on the spanning tree nearest to the center of the set of clock sinks. The method further includes generating a clock tree by placing a clock driver at the point on the spanning tree that is nearest to the center of the set of clock sinks.