Capacitance measurements for an integrated circuit

Details Capacitance measurements for an integrated circuit Capacitance measurements for an integrated circuit

2007-08-21

2007-08-21

Dinh, Paul (Department: 2825)

Computer-aided design and analysis of circuits and semiconductor

Nanotechnology related integrated circuit design

C716S030000, C716S030000, C324S519000, C324S678000

Reexamination Certificate

active

11129656

ABSTRACT:
A method and apparatus for determining capacitance of wires in an integrated circuit is described. The capacitance information derived according to the invention can be used, for example, to calibrate a parasitic extraction engine or to calibrate an integrated circuit fabrication process. The capacitance information can also be used for timing and noise circuit simulations, particularly for deep sub-micron circuit design simulations. Briefly, the invention allows measurement of both total capacitance of a line and cross coupling capacitance between two lines by applying predetermined voltage signals to specific circuit elements. The resulting current allows simple computation of total capacitance and cross coupling capacitance. Multiple cross coupling capacitance can be measured with a single device, thus improving the art of library generation, and the overall method is free of uncertainties related to transistor capacitance couplings. The capacitance values obtained can then be used to calibrate procedures, processes, devices, etc.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5212454 (1993-05-01), Proebsting
patent: 5790436 (1998-08-01), Chen et al.
patent: 5901063 (1999-05-01), Chang et al.
patent: 5999010 (1999-12-01), Arora et al.
patent: 6011731 (2000-01-01), Beigel et al.
patent: 6249903 (2001-06-01), McSherry et al.
patent: 6300765 (2001-10-01), Chen
patent: 6366098 (2002-04-01), Froment
patent: 6414498 (2002-07-01), Chen
patent: 6934669 (2005-08-01), Suaya et al.
McGaughy et al., “A Simple Method for On-Chip, Sub-Femto Farad Interconnect Capacitance Measurement”, IEEE Electron Device Letters, vol. 18. No. 1, Jan. 1997.
Chen et al., Proper On-Chip Capacitance Measurement >> (1999). p. 1-5. Mentor Graphics www.mentor.com/dsm.
DeBroff et al., “Electromagnetic Concepts and Applications” (1996). p. 528-529, 534-535. Prentice-Hall Inc., ISBN 0-13-301151-8.
Chen et al., “An On-Chip, Attofarad Interconnect Charge-based Capacitance Measurement Technique”, IEEE, 1996, pp. 3.4.1-3.4.4.
Sylvester et al., “Investigation of Interconnect Capacitance Characterization using Charge-based Capacitance Measurement Technique and 3-D Simulation”, IEEE, 1997, pp. 491-494.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

Rating

Capacitance measurements for an integrated circuit does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Capacitance measurements for an integrated circuit, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Capacitance measurements for an integrated circuit will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3899196