Dynamic Waiver Methodology with Calibre Pattern Matching

During physical verification, IC design rule errors waived in top-level context may not be valid in subsequent iterations, due to changes in the layout topology. Designers must manually inspect all error results in each iteration to identify waived errors, or waste time debugging waived errors. The Calibre Auto-Waivers tool lets designers create contextual patterns and output a waiver database for automated contextual waiving during iterative physical verification runs.

Automated contextual waiving ensures IC design rule violations waived in top-level context remain waivable during iterative physical verification runs.

After IC design implementation, designers run physical verification to identify any layout changes needed to meet physical design constraints, and apply rule waivers to selected design rule checking (DRC) violations. During subsequent DRC iterations, the number and location of these contextual waivable violations may change, requiring designers to manually inspect all error results to identify the waivable errors, or debug all errors, including waived errors, both of which are time-consuming and unproductive. The Calibre Auto-Waivers tool can capture waived geometric interactions as patterns that can be dynamically identified with each iteration during physical verification, enabling automatic waiving of these results wherever they may occur as the design layout topology changes. This waiver methodology integrates with traditional IP waiver flows, enhancing designer productivity by focusing debug efforts on fixing real errors, rather than waivable contextual violations that may recur throughout design implementation.