Out-of-bounds recovery circuits configured to detect an out-of-bounds violation in an electronic device, and cause the electronic device to transition to a predetermined safe state when an out-of-bounds violation is detected. The out-of-bounds recovery circuits include detection logic configured to detect that an out-of-bounds violation has occurred when a processing element of the electronic device has fetched an instruction from an unallowable memory address range for the current operating state of the electronic device; and transition logic configured to cause the electronic device to transition to a predetermined safe state when an out-of-bounds violation has been detected by the detection logic.

A layout modification method for fabricating a semiconductor device is provided. The layout modification method includes calculating uniformity of critical dimensions of first and second portions in a patterned layer by using a layout for an exposure manufacturing process to produce the semiconductor device. A width of the first and second portions equals a penumbra size of the exposure manufacturing process. The penumbra size is utilized to indicate which area of the patterned layer is affected by light leakage exposure from another exposure manufacturing process. The layout modification method further includes compensating non-uniformity of the first and second portions of the patterned layer according to the uniformity of critical dimensions to generate a modified layout. The first portion is divided into a plurality of first sub-portions. The second portion is divided into a plurality of second sub-portions. Each second sub-portion is surrounded by two of the first sub-portions.

A layout modification method for fabricating a semiconductor device is provided. The layout modification method includes calculating uniformity of critical dimensions of first and second portions in a patterned layer by using a layout for an exposure manufacturing process to produce the semiconductor device. A width of the first and second portions equals a penumbra size of the exposure manufacturing process. The penumbra size is utilized to indicate which area of the patterned layer is affected by light leakage exposure from another exposure manufacturing process. The layout modification method further includes compensating non-uniformity of the first and second portions of the patterned layer according to the uniformity of critical dimensions to generate a modified layout. The first portion is divided into a plurality of first sub-portions. The second portion is divided into a plurality of second sub-portions. Each second sub-portion is surrounded by two of the first sub-portions.

A system and method may determine the operating parameters, such as voltages, of MOS transistors within a circuit design by testing or simulation, for example and may identify a MOS transistor operating with its drain voltage higher than its gate voltage in the circuit. The design system and method may substitute a smaller transistor, having a high-k dielectric layer, for the original transistor in the circuit design.

A method of constructing an RF filter comprises designing an RF filter that includes a plurality of resonant elements disposed, a plurality of non-resonant elements coupling the resonant elements together to form a stop band having a plurality of transmission zeroes corresponding to respective frequencies of the resonant elements, and a sub-band between the transmission zeroes. The non-resonant elements comprise a variable non-resonant element for selectively introducing a reflection zero within the stop band to create a pass band in the sub-band. The method further comprises changing the order in which the resonant elements are disposed along the signal transmission path to create a plurality of filter solutions, computing a performance parameter for each of the filter solutions, comparing the performance parameters to each other, selecting one of the filter solutions based on the comparison of the computed performance parameters, and constructing the RF filter using the selected filter solution.

A method of designing a microwave filter using a computerized filter optimizer, comprises generating a filter circuit design in process (DIP) comprising a plurality of circuit elements having a plurality of resonant elements and one or more non-resonant elements, optimizing the DIP by inputting the DIP into the computerized filter optimizer, determining that one of the plurality of circuit elements in the DIP is insignificant, removing the one insignificant circuit element from the DIP, deriving a final filter circuit design from the DIP, and manufacturing the microwave filter based on the final filter circuit design.

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 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.

Systems and methods are disclosed for automated generation of integrated circuit designs and associated data. These allow the design of processors and SoCs by a single, non-expert who understands high-level requirements; allow the en masse exploration of the design-space through the generation processors across the design-space via simulation, or emulation; allow the easy integration of IP cores from multiple third parties into an SoC; allow for delivery of a multi-tenant service for producing processors and SoCs that are customized while also being pre-verified and delivered with a complete set of developer tools, documentation and related outputs. Some embodiments, provide direct delivery, or delivery into a cloud hosting environment, of finished integrated circuits embodying the processors and SoCs.

Systems and methods are disclosed for automated generation of integrated circuit designs and associated data. These allow the design of processors and SoCs by a single, non-expert who understands high-level requirements; allow the en masse exploration of the design-space through the generation processors across the design-space via simulation, or emulation; allow the easy integration of IP cores from multiple third parties into an SoC; allow for delivery of a multi-tenant service for producing processors and SoCs that are customized while also being pre-verified and delivered with a complete set of developer tools, documentation and related outputs. Some embodiments, provide direct delivery, or delivery into a cloud hosting environment, of finished integrated circuits embodying the processors and SoCs.