When the P&R engineers reach the limits of what the P&R DRC can do, they must run signoff DRC against the layout to find and fix those errors the P&R DRC can’t handle. Those signoff DRC tools work with DRC rule decks that cover the complete set of design rules for a node, and have been qualified by the foundry to notify a design is free of errors that would impact its manufacturability. However, this native P&R DRC functionality wasn’t designed or intended to replace the signoff DRC verification provided by tools like the Calibre nmDRC platform from Siemens EDA. P&R engineers run this native P&R DRC within the P&R tool to find and fix a large percentage of the DRC errors in a layout. Years ago, in an attempt to simplify and speed up the DRC process, electronic design automation (EDA) companies that provide P&R tools started building in a basic set of DRC checks.

At each new node, the number of design rules increase, and the complexity of each rule increases as well. The P&R engineers must then evaluate that layout against the design rules using DRC to find and fix any errors.įoundries create the design rules for each process. That is, they create a physical layout that turns the designer’s proposed functionality into interconnect, devices, layers, and so on. P&R tools perform an automated implementation of the design description in RTL. Overcoming that challenge often means finding new and better ways to complete the steps that make up the overall process.

The challenge inherent in both is to achieve the desired results in the minimum amount of time using the smallest amount of resources possible. Of course, that’s a highly simplified (but generally accurate) view of both processes. Design teams use place-and-route (P&R) tools to implement the layout, design-rule checking (DRC) to remove construction obstacles (errors), and design for manufacturing (DFM) optimization to maximize manufacturability and performance. Building an integrated-circuit (IC) chip is much the same. You must select the route, remove any obstructions, and level the ground before you can apply the paving. Building a road is a multi-stage process.

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