An integrated circuit includes a semiconductor substrate and a plurality of circuit elements in or on the substrate. The circuit elements are defined by standard layout cells selected from a cell library. The circuit elements including a plurality of flip-flops. Each flip-flop has a data input terminal, a data output terminal, a clock input terminal, and a clock output terminal. A first one of the flip-flops directly abuts a second flip-flop such that the clock output terminal of the first flip-flop electrically connects with the clock input terminal of the second flip-flop.