Systems and methods for designing integrated circuits
Systems and methods for designing integrated circuits (ICs) are provided. A representative method includes: providing a netlist; determining components required to implement test of at least a portion of the integrated circuit defined by the netlist; provide a revised netlist including the components determined; and performing a place and route operation with respect to the revised netlist.
1 . A method for designing an integrated circuit (IC), said method comprising:
providing a netlist;
determining components required to implement test of at least a portion of the integrated circuit defined by the netlist;
providing a revised netlist including the components determined; and
performing a place and route operation with respect to the revised netlist.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein providing a netlist comprises generating a synthesized netlist.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components comprises:
determining a number of flip-flops corresponding to the portion of the IC;
applying at least a first scan methodology to the portion of the IC; and
determining additional components required to implement the first scan methodology.
4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components comprises organizing flip-flops into a plurality of scan chains of desired lengths.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components comprises adding scan input and scan output ports to the netlist.
6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components comprises adding flip-flops to alter scan chain lengths.
7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components comprises altering at least one of hierarchy, circuitry, wiring, and connections with respect to the netlist.
8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein performing place and route functionality comprises ensuring that IC design criteria associated with timing, area and power requirements are satisfied.
9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components is performed prior to performing a place and route operation of the IC.
10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining components is performed prior to placement but further specification of component interconnection is performed after placement and before routing.
11 . An integrated circuit formed by the method of claim 1 .
12 . A computer-readable medium having stored thereon information for performing a computer-implemented method, the method comprising:
providing a netlist;
determining components required to implement test of at least a portion of the integrated circuit defined by the netlist;
providing a revised netlist including the components determined; and
performing a place and route operation with respect to the revised netlist.
13 . A system for designing an integrated circuit (IC), said system comprising:
a processor operative to execute instructions; and
a memory communicating with the processor and storing instructions for:
providing a netlist;
determining components required to implement test of at least a portion of the integrated circuit defined by the netlist;
providing a revised netlist including the components determined; and
performing a place and route operation with respect to the revised netlist.
14 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
means for outputting the revised netlist.
15 . The system of claim 13 , further comprising:
a display device communicating with the processor and operative to output the revised netlist.