Analysis of power supply noise in simulations of a design of a circuit can use per instance dynamic voltage drops (DVD) in timing analyses so that the simulated DVD values on a per victim cell basis can accurately guide the timing analysis on each victim instead of a global DVD for all victims during the timing analysis. In one embodiment, a method can: determine, during a power analysis simulation, a representation of an energy lost, during each switching window at each output of each victim cell, at one or more power supply rails of each of the victim cells in the set of victim cells due to aggressors in the design; and provide the representation of the energy lost separately for each victim cell to a timing analysis system. The representation can be a rectangle having a width defined by a switching window of a victim's output.

Analysis of power supply noise in simulations of a design of a circuit can use per instance dynamic voltage drops (DVD) in timing analyses so that the simulated DVD values on a per victim cell basis can accurately guide the timing analysis on each victim instead of a global DVD for all victims during the timing analysis. In one embodiment, a method can: determine, during a power analysis simulation, a representation of an energy lost, during each switching window at each output of each victim cell, at one or more power supply rails of each of the victim cells in the set of victim cells due to aggressors in the design; and provide the representation of the energy lost separately for each victim cell to a timing analysis system. The representation can be a rectangle having a width defined by a switching window of a victim's output.

A method includes determining topographic information of a substrate for use in a lithographic imaging system, determining or estimating, based on the topographic information, imaging error information for a plurality of points in an image field of the lithographic imaging system, adapting a design for a patterning device based on the imaging error information. In an embodiment, a plurality of locations for metrology targets is optimized based on imaging error information for a plurality of points in an image field of a lithographic imaging system, wherein the optimizing involves minimizing a cost function that describes the imaging error information. In an embodiment, locations are weighted based on differences in imaging requirements across the image field.

Systems and methods for obfuscating a circuit design are described. One of the methods includes receiving the circuit design from a user computing device. The circuit design includes a plurality of circuit components. The method further includes obfuscating each of the circuit components by transforming layout features associated with the circuit design into a generic layout feature representation. The generic layout feature representation excludes scaled representations of the layout features. The method also includes generating a visual representation of the obfuscated designs. Each of the obfuscated designs has an input port and an output port. The method further includes enabling placement of the obfuscated designs and routing between the input ports and the output ports of the obfuscated designs. The method includes generating an obfuscated integrated circuit design having a master input port, a master output port, the obfuscated designs, and the routing between the obfuscated designs.

A method for fabricating a circuit comprises identifying a target on the circuit with a transitional sensitivity, determining a test pattern that stresses the target, generating a verification model at the hierarchy of the target, creating a pattern and translating the pattern into a verification assertion, running the verification with the translated pattern, determining whether the verification assertion is a possible verification assertion following the running of the verification, obtaining a state of source laches and pin inputs responsive to determining that the formal verification assertion is a possible verification assertion following the running of the formal verification, translating the formal verification assertion into a coverage event, running a simulation with the coverage event, determining whether the coverage event occurred, and creating a manufacturing test responsive to determining that the coverage event occurred.

A method of generating an integrated circuit includes providing a placing layout of the integrated circuit; generating a routed layout of the integrated circuit, the routed layout includes a layout region with a systematic design rule check (DRC) violation; generating an adjusted routing layout of the integrated circuit by adjusting the layout region with the systematic DRC violation according to a target placement recipe in a plurality of placement recipes; extracting features of the placing layout to obtain an extracted data; extracting features of the layout region with the systematic DRC violation to obtain an extracted routing data; performing a training process upon the extracted data and the extracted routing data to generate a plurality of aggregated-cluster models; and selecting a target aggregated-cluster model from the plurality of aggregated-cluster models by comparing the extracted data to the plurality of aggregated-cluster models.

A method of generating an integrated circuit includes providing a placing layout of the integrated circuit; generating a routed layout of the integrated circuit, the routed layout includes a layout region with a systematic design rule check (DRC) violation; generating an adjusted routing layout of the integrated circuit by adjusting the layout region with the systematic DRC violation according to a target placement recipe in a plurality of placement recipes; extracting features of the placing layout to obtain an extracted data; extracting features of the layout region with the systematic DRC violation to obtain an extracted routing data; performing a training process upon the extracted data and the extracted routing data to generate a plurality of aggregated-cluster models; and selecting a target aggregated-cluster model from the plurality of aggregated-cluster models by comparing the extracted data to the plurality of aggregated-cluster models.

A method for determining a deformation of a resist in a patterning process. The method involves obtaining a resist deformation model of a resist having a pattern, the resist deformation model configured to simulate a fluid flow of the resist due to capillary forces acting on a contour of at least one feature of the pattern; and determining, via the resist deformation model, a deformation of a resist pattern to be developed based on an input pattern to the resist deformation model.

A method for determining a deformation of a resist in a patterning process. The method involves obtaining a resist deformation model of a resist having a pattern, the resist deformation model configured to simulate a fluid flow of the resist due to capillary forces acting on a contour of at least one feature of the pattern; and determining, via the resist deformation model, a deformation of a resist pattern to be developed based on an input pattern to the resist deformation model.

An integrated circuit design method includes receiving an integrated circuit design, and determining a floor plan for the integrated circuit design. The floor plan includes an arrangement of a plurality of functional cells and a plurality of tap cells. Potential latchup locations in the floor plan are determined, and the arrangement of at least one of the functional cells or the tap cells is modified based on the determined potential latchup locations.