IP Library Granted Patent US 11,509,303
Granted Patent B2
US 11,509,303 · App. 16/915,099 · Granted Nov 22, 2022

Glitch power analysis and optimization engine

Inventors: Geng Bai (ShenZhen, CN); Ping-San Tzeng (Fremont, CA); Chao-Yung Wang (Taipei, TW); Yang Wu (Los Altos Hills, CA); Wen Kung Chu (San Jose, CA)
Assignee: Siemens Industry Software Inc.
H03K17/687G01R31/00G01R31/31718
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,509,303
App. No.
16/915,099
Granted
Nov 22, 2022
Kind
B2
Abstract

A switching activity report of simulated switching activities of a semiconductor circuit is accessed. A plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios corresponding to a plurality of pins in the semiconductor circuit are determined, comprising by: setting an initial bottleneck ratio on a leaf output pin; and backward traversing the semiconductor circuit to determine a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios of pins in a fan-in cone of the leaf output pin. A plurality of total glitch powers associated with the plurality of pins is determined, a total glitch power of the plurality of total glitch powers being determined based on a glitch bottleneck ratio and a glitch power of a corresponding pin. One or more critical bottleneck pins among the plurality of pins are identified based on the plurality of total glitch powers. One or more gates associated with the one or more critical bottleneck pins are adjusted to reduce corresponding one or more total glitch powers of the one or more gates.

Claims (43)

1. A method, including:

accessing a switching activity report of simulated switching activities of a semiconductor circuit;

determining a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios corresponding to a plurality of pins in the semiconductor circuit, comprising by:

setting an initial bottleneck ratio on a leaf output pin; and

backward traversing the semiconductor circuit to determine a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios of pins in a fan-in cone of the leaf output pin;

determining a plurality of total glitch powers associated with the plurality of pins, a total glitch power of the plurality of total glitch powers being determined based on a glitch bottleneck ratio and a glitch power of a corresponding pin;

identifying one or more critical bottleneck pins among the plurality of pins based on the plurality of total glitch powers; and

adjusting one or more gates associated with the one or more critical bottleneck pins to reduce corresponding one or more total glitch powers of the one or more gates.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the total glitch power of the plurality of total glitch powers is based at least in part on a function of the glitch bottleneck ratio multiplied by the glitch power of the corresponding pin.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the glitch power of the corresponding pin is based at least in part on a generated glitch power for the corresponding pin, a propagated power for the corresponding pin, or both.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the switching activity report includes a VCD (value change dump) file.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining accurate glitch toggle information based on the switching activity report.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein accurate glitch toggle information is based at least in part on an annotation engine analysis of the switching activity report.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using boundary pin toggling information to determine statistical glitch toggle information.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein statistical glitch toggle information is based at least in part on a statistical engine estimate.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein the statistical glitch toggle information is determined accounting for side-input disturbance.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein parameters associated with side-input disturbance are determined using machine learning.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein side-input disturbance is accounted for using a first-order approximation.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein side-input disturbance is accounted for using a correlation of non-toggled side inputs.

13. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: determining accurate glitch toggle information based on the switching activity report; using boundary pin toggling information to determine statistical glitch toggle information; and determining a calibration ratio.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising applying a calibration ratio to a statistical glitch toggle value.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising extracting a plurality of glitch counts corresponding to a plurality of gate output pins from the switching activity report and determining a plurality of accurate glitch powers based on the plurality of glitch counts.

16. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a plurality of glitch powers corresponding to the plurality of pins.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adjusting of the one or more gates includes one or more of: balancing a signal toggling time at gate inputs; changing gate delay; making a gate delay larger; applying glitch filtering; and changing clock latency of a clock tree.

18. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining updated statistical glitch toggle information incrementally based on the adjustment, applying a calibration ratio to the updated statistical glitch toggle information.

19. A system, comprising:

a processor configured to:

access a switching activity report of simulated switching activities of a semiconductor circuit;

determine a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios corresponding to a plurality of pins in the semiconductor circuit, comprising by:

set an initial bottleneck ratio on a leaf output pin;

backward traverse the semiconductor circuit to determine a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios of pins in a fan-in cone of the leaf output pin;

determine a plurality of total glitch powers associated with the plurality of pins, a total glitch power of the plurality of total glitch powers being determined based on a glitch bottleneck ratio and a glitch power of a corresponding pin;

identify one or more critical bottleneck pins among the plurality of pins based on the plurality of total glitch powers; and

adjust one or more gates associated with the one or more critical bottleneck pins to reduce corresponding one or more total glitch powers of the one or more gates; and

a memory coupled to the processor and configured to provide the processor with instructions.

20. A computer program product, the computer program product being embodied in a non-transitory computer readable storage medium and comprising computer instructions for:

accessing a switching activity report of simulated switching activities of a semiconductor circuit;

determining a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios corresponding to a plurality of pins in the semiconductor circuit, comprising by:

setting an initial bottleneck ratio on a leaf output pin;

backward traversing the semiconductor circuit to determine a plurality of glitch bottleneck ratios of pins in a fan-in cone of the leaf output pin;

determining a plurality of total glitch powers associated with the plurality of pins, a total glitch power of the plurality of total glitch powers being determined based on a glitch bottleneck ratio and a glitch power of a corresponding pin;

identifying one or more critical bottleneck pins among the plurality of pins based on the plurality of total glitch powers; and

adjusting one or more gates associated with the one or more critical bottleneck pins to reduce corresponding one or more total glitch powers of the one or more gates.

Assignments (5)
MERGER AND CHANGE OF NAME Recorded Mar 22, 2021
From: AVATAR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, INC.; SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE INC.
To: SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE INC.
Reel/Frame 055666/0360 →
MERGER Recorded Feb 24, 2021
From: AVATAR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, INC.
To: SIEMENS INDUSTRY SOFTWARE INC.
Reel/Frame 055388/0136 →
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Aug 24, 2020
From: BAI, GENG; TZENG, PING-SAN; WANG, CHAO-YUNG; WU, YANG; CHU, WEN KUNG
To: AVATAR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 053579/0770 →
RELEASE OF SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Aug 21, 2020
From: MENTOR GRAPHICS CORPORATION
To: AVATAR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, INC.
Reel/Frame 053558/0632 →
SECURITY INTEREST Recorded Jul 23, 2020
From: AVATAR INTEGRATED SYSTEMS, INC.
To: MENTOR GRAPHICS CORPORATION
Reel/Frame 053288/0081 →
Continuity (1)
Related Publication 20210384901A1 · Dec 9, 2021