Lecture 9:

Cell Design Issues

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 1

Overview

Reading
W&E 6.3 to 6.3.6 - FPGA, Gate Array, and Std Cell design
W&E 5.3 - Cell design

Introduction
This lecture will look at some of the layout issues for cell designs. There are two
issues in cell layout, what are the internal constraints (how will the cell be built)
and what are the interface constraints (how will the cell be used). Datapath
cells, and other array cells, have more interface constraints to allow them to
connect by abutment.
This lecture first looks at different implementation styles, and then at the cell
layout problem in more detail. Wires are now a key component of the design, so
we examine the wire properties more closely. The lecture also looks at sizing of
Vdd, Gnd wires.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 2

 Wires are Key

As discussed in last lecture, the wires are critical to design

Set the capacitive load on the gates
- Need to know (estimate) wire length to size gate
- Planning is critical
Have resistance too
- Long wires have their own RC time constants
- Very little you can do
Need to have a number of special wires
- Power, Gnd, clock
- Need to have very low effective resistance

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 3

Wire Properties

For best performance (and area)

Need to use the right wires for the right job
Different layers have very different characteristics:

Layer Resistance Capacitance Connects to

metal2 low low m1
metal1 low low diff, poly, m2
poly medium* low gate, m1
ndiff medium* high s/d, m1
pdiff medium* high s/d, m1
* Could be high if a silicide process is not used. For most technology < 1, there is silicide.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 4

 Wire Numbers

Like a transistor, the resistance of layer is given by Rsq times the number of
squares. But unfortunately for wires L is usually much larger than W.

L L
R=
tW
t
R
W
Table 1:

For a process without silicide

Rsq Rsq/Rtrans the resistance of the ndiff, pdiff
and poly layers increase to be
metal .05 1/2.6x105 100s of ohms/sq.

poly 5 1/2600 Diff should not be used because

of its large capacitance. Poly
ndiff 5 1/2600 can be used for short wires, but
the resistance is too large for
pdiff 5 1/2600 any long wires.

nMOS 13K 1
pMOS 26K 2

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 5

Wire Resistance

Look at driving a wire that is 1000 long

Wire cap 0.2fF/ * 500 = 100fF
- Size transistor to be 8 nMOS, 16 pMOS
- Resistance is 13K/4 = 3.25K
Wire resistance is Rsq * 1000/3 for metal; 1000/2 for poly
- 17 for metal, 2.5K for poly

Look at driving a wire that is 10000 long (that is only 5mm in our technology)
Wire cap 0.2fF/ * 5000 = 1000fF
- Size transistor to be 80 nMOS, 160 pMOS
- Resistance is 13K/4 = 325
Wire resistance is Rsq * 10000/3
- 166 for metal, 25K for poly

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 6

 Wire Uses

Diff
- This is a terrible wire because of its high capacitance.
- Only use is to connect to transistors
Poly
- Resistance is pretty high. Good for local (short interconnections)
- Dont use to route outside a cell, and dont as a jumper in a long wire
Metal1
- Only thing that can connect to poly and diffusion
- Densely used in a cell
Metal2 - MetalN-1
- General wiring areas
MetalN
- Thicker metal for Vdd, Gnd and clock routing

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 7

Implementation Technology for Cells

There are many constraints that might be placed on the cell design
To make the fabrication or CAD tool problem simpler

Implementations range from

Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA)
- Chip are prefabricated, program fuses/antifuses to get logic.
Gate Arrays
- Transistors are prefabricated, customize metal to generate cell
Standard Cells
- All cells have fixed height, (wiring maybe restricted to channels)
Standard Cells with Macros
- Macros can be datapath and/or memory

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 8

 +FPGAs

Idea is to fabricate a chip that can be programmed to do logic.

Logic is programmed into the chip after fabrication
Programming is done using:
- Memory cells and CMOS switches
- Fuses or Antifuses
- E-PROM technology (floating gates hold a value 10 years)
Hard problem is customizing wires
- Can program logic ok
- To program wire connections need to add switches to wire
- Switches have capacitance and resistance slow

But FPGAs are completely prefabricated in large volumes, so can be cost

effective and quicker than any other option. (Makes it a hot area)
Raw technology might be overkill (if dont need speed or # of gates)

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 9

+Example FPGA Cell

Presentation by XILINX at 1995 International Solid-State Circuits Conf

Chip has 1728 Configurable Logic cells each with schematic:

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 10

 +FPGA Wiring

Basic idea is to have a standard cell like wiring (with channels)

Each channel has wires of different lengths
Number of each length is set by statistics from real designs
Try to use the wire of the length you need
When needed use a logic block as a repeater

Often a switch in the wire gaps

Big problem is that there are switches in the wires -- have high resistance

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 11

+Gate Array

The cell designer must use predefined transistors

W/L are all the same, or at best limited set of sizes
Transistors are prefabricated in the silicon (many of the mask steps)
Chip is covered with transistors (sea of gates)

The cell designer provides the metal patterns that forms the transistors into useful
logic units.
The logic units are then placed and routed on the large array of trans.
Transistor under wiring channels may not be used
Tie neighboring transistor gate stripes off to separate the transistor drains
actually getting used.

User still works in predefined cells (implemented in std transistors)

Cheaper (perhaps) and faster to manufacture (perhaps) than standard cells since
you need to customize fewer layers

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 12

 + Gate Array Layout

nMOS

pMOS

pMOS

nMOS

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 13

Standard Cells with Channel Routing

Appropriate for all or part of a custom chip (defining all mask layers)
All cells are the same height with abutting power and gnd connections
Cells tiled into rows
Rows of cells separated by routing. If M3, maybe over-cell routing too.
Channel height can be set after the routing, so the wires always fit

Cell Cell Height

Channel Height

Vdd, Gnd in Cell

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 14

 Standard Cell Example

Example of the cells

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 15

Standard Cell Routing

With two layers of metal

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 16

 Standard Cells vs. Macros

Generally macros have more structured wires than standard cells, so you need to
use a little different implementation style for the cells. For structured wires, the
cells contain the wires and snap together.
Standard Cells
The logic is done in fixed height cells. The cells are assembled into rows, and
the wires that connect the logic together is done in wiring channels that are
outside of the cells. This routing is usually done by CAD tools trying to be more
automated than Magic.
Snap-Together Cells
Rather than having external channels for the wires, in this design style the wires
are contained in the cells. The wiring pattern is regular enough that the
connection between cells is done by simply abutting the cells. This layout style
is more restrictive than the Std Cell style since it supports a more limited wiring
topology. Its advantage is that if the wiring can be made to fit this layout style,
both the area and wire length (capacitance) can be reduced.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 17

Snap-Together Cells

For this design the critical issue is pitch-matching the cells (like std-cells, but
requires matching in both dimensions, not just the height). Since we want them all
to fit together, not only do we need to have the wire connect at the cell
boundaries, but we also want the cells to be able to tile the surface. That is cells
that connect together should have the size in the connecting edge. In this design
style, smaller is not always better. You need all connecting cells to share height
and width on edges.

A A B
A A B

C D Making D shorter would not help

Making D narrower would not help

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 18

 Abutting Cells

Two common examples of blocks that use these cells are regular arrays (usually
for memory) and datapath (for dataflow design).
In memory design, the core of the cells is a two dimensional array of bits. Since
the communication between the cells is fixed, it is easy to embed the needed
wires in the cells. Key here is to get all the edge decoder and mux cells to pitch-
match to the small memory cells:
Bit Line Clamps

Row Decode
Memory Array 2 Decoders

2 Decoders

Column Mux 4:1 Mux

Column Dec

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 19

Memory Layout Example

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 20

 Expanded

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 21

Datapath: Wires are in the Cell.

Datapaths operate on multiple bit data. Most of the communication is between

functional units, bit0 of FUx going to bit0 of FUy. At each functional unit, all the bits
are operated on roughly the same way. This means that each FU can be
constructed from an array of identical cells, and the wires between the FU can be
incorporated in the cells, so the whole structure can connect by abutment.
Think: Build:
FU1 FU2 FU3
bit 0 Bitslice

FU1 FU2 FU3 bit 1

Wordslice

bit 2
...

Often cells are mirrored every other row, so the cells share Vdd and Gnd rails.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 22

 Datapaths

Wire lengths (and hence required driver sizes) can be accurately estimated from a
slice plan like this

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 23

Datapath Cells

Fixed-height cells, the height is called the bit pitch

- Set to height of tallest cell
- Set to allow required number of wires routing over the cell
- 100 works well
Variable width
- Width is determined by function
Wires over cells
- Horizontal wires carry data between function units, busses in the design
To nearest neighbor, distant neighbor, or pass through
- Vertical wires are the control lines for this function
Sets up the function to be performed (e.g. Mux select)
Often clock lines for latches

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 24

 Datapath Cell Example

M2 Data bus
can connect here

Control lines

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 25

Power, Ground and Clock Need Wider Wires

Power and Ground

The power supply needs to be distributed to all the cells in the circuit.
Resistance in these lines must be very small, since when a gate switches, its
current flows through the supply lines. If the resistance of the supply lines is too
large, the voltage supplied to gates will drop, which can cause the gate to
malfunction. Usually you dont want the supply to change more than 5-10% due
to supply resistance.
So power supply must be on the metal layer
Is that enough? Usually, they have to be wider too.
Rtrans is much greater (by 105) than Rmetal
But one builds wide devices, and long wires
And in a chip there are many devices connected in parallel to the
supplies. So you need still need to be careful even with metal layers, and
make the special wires wide enough.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 26

 Power IR Drops

Two examples:
Drive a 32 bit bus, total load on bus wire is 2pf
We want the delay to be around 0.5ns
R for each transistor needs to be < 0.25k
to meet: RC = 0.5ns
Effective R of bits together is 250/32 = 7.5
For < 10% drop, Power R must be < ~1
That is only 8 squares.
Must support Total Power
Chips today dissipate 5-50W
Implies total current is 2-20A (Power = iV)
Use many supply pins (@.2mA each), and wide wires for low R
Grids of wire are goodness. Helps lower average resistance.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 27

Electromigration

Electromigration is the phenomenon of metal atoms physically moving over time

(months). Wires and contacts can thin out and break.

Electromigration occurs both in signal (AC=Alternating Current direction) and

power wires (DC = Uniform Current direction). But problem is 10 times more
severe for the same current if DC rather than AC. The DC currents occur two
places: Inside of cells, and in the power busses.

DC

AC AC
DC

So, sometimes need more contacts on transistor sources and drains to meet
electromigration limits. And width of power buses must support both iR and
electromigration requirements.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 28

 Power and Gnd Routing

Usually on the top layer of metal, and then distributed to the lower levels.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 29

Power Supply Rules

The exact rules depend on the technology

Each technology file should have its rules for resistance, electromigration

Example Rules:
Must have a contact for each 16 of transistor width (more is better)
Wire must have less than 1mA/ of width
Power/Gnd width = Length of wire * Sum (all transistor connected to wire) /
3*106 (very approximate)

For small designs, power supply design is less of an issue

Total power is small
Chip is small, so wires are short
Will not be an issue in EE271

Now lets look at the components of the cells starting with transistors

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 30

 Transistor Layouts

What this means for transistor layouts:

dont use only

3 wide devices
unless want weak
device

best worse even worse yech

misalignment

Transistors should be at least as wide as contacts (4). Use as many contacts

as possible for wider transistors. No diffusion anywhere else.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 31

Use Folding to Reduce Diffusion

For very large transistors you end up with a bad aspect ratio. To make it a more
square shape, fold the transistor. This folding also halves the size of the high
capacitance diffusion regions of the drains.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 32

 Folding Series Gates

For series stack of devices fold the whole stack, not the individual transistors

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 33

Basic Cell Layout Issues

1. P-N spacing is large --> Keep pMOS together and nMOS together. Often mirror
cells to keep nMOS in one cell close to nMOS in the other cell. Datapath cells
sometimes mirror in both dimensions.
2. Vdd and Gnd distribution needs to be in metal, and often needs wide wires. Vdd
runs near the pMOS groups, and Gnd runs near the nMOS
3. Poly can be used for intra-cell wires only
4. Layers alternate directions.
M1 and M2 should run (predominantly) in orthogonal directions.
Otherwise you can easily get into a situation where it is impossible to get any
wire into a region.
5. Every cell should be DRC correct in isolation. If a bus or contact is created by
abutment, put in both cells, and overlap the edges.
6. If you need to make several versions of something, put the common part in one
cell, and then make multiple parents. Dont squash (flatten and copy)
unnecessarily. Much easier to make fixes later.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 34

 Example Std Cell Layout

Color plan
M1 horizontal, M2 vertical; power on M1
There are well and
substrate contacts under
the supply lines (on top
and bottom of cell)

One of the poly lines

jogs over to reduce the
diffusion cap in the
series transistor

Notice the space that a

poly M2 connection
requires (since it needs
a poly contact spaced
from a via)

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 35

Example Std Cell

Color plan
M1 vertical, M2 horizontal; power on M2
Notice the wide M2
power lines on the left
cell. Also notice that
the M1 wires
generally cant run on
top of stuff

On the left cell notice

the compact M2-diff
contact, by using a
m2c adjacent to pdc.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 36

 Std Cell Latch

A std-cell latch is more likely to be both static and have its own inverter for the
clock. Also, since we want to have a safe static latch, the feedback node would be
isolated from the output.

Phi

Out
In

Notice this latch requires no ratioing of transistors or capacitance.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 37

Std Cell Latch Layout

Color plan (std cell latch): M1 horizontal, M2 vertical; power in M1

This layout has been

hacked some from simply
laying out poly. But only
real cleverness is the
merging of the TG diffusion
with the tristate inverter,
and the routing of the clock
lines to this section. And
even in this section it is still
poly mostly vertical.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 38

 Datapath/Array Layout

Creating datapath cells is like Std Cell design:

Need to come up with a consistent wire plan
Need to make sure all the cells are the same height

But is a little more complex

Wires need to be in the cell
Need to think about data wires (the buses) and the control wire
Need to think more about the application first
Sometimes need to have wires for your neighbor cells
Wires that route through cell must be in metal
This goes for the control and data wires
Must not have not have any poly jumpers in these wires
Cell dimension can be more constrained (dont want to expand datapath for just
one cell)

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 39

Datapath Cell Design

Have option of wire plan:

Bus in M1, control in M2
Bus in M2, control in M1
M2 wires can run over transistors, but M1 wires consume area

And independent of this you get to choose the Vdd and Gnd routing
Power in the control direction (vertical)
Power in the data direction (horizontal)

Look at two different latch implementations, with horizontal power routing

Since many bus lines are not used by the cell, I like to place buses on M2. Then
I can route these signals over the transistors and save area. I generally have
more buses then control wires

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 40

 Datapath Latch: M1 vert, M2 horiz

This has horizontal data buses in

M2. These bus lines run over the
cell (in the parent), so they are not
shown.
Control is in M1 vertically
Input and output have m2c so they can
connect with the m2 bus lines. Sliding
the contacts up and down allows them
to connect to the correct bus line
Vdd and Gnd are made to be shared
(mirror adj bitslices)

Latchs output is not isolated

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 41

Wire Floorplanning (Color Plan)

This is a plan of the chip/block/cell, that shows not only the subcells/transistors,
but also the space needed for wires. Within a cell it is usually called the color
plan; at the top level it is called a floorplan.
For both the cells and the wiring areas the dominant direction of metal wires are
shown. If poly is used for wiring its direction should be shown too.
The floorplan should also note how Vdd and Gnd are being distributed, and the
width of the wires.

A little planning up front will save lots of time in the back end.

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 42

 RISC II Floorplan

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 43

MAH, AEN EE271 Lecture 9 44