Efficient Methods for Large Resistor Networks

Large resistor networks arise during the design of very-large-scale integration chips as a result of parasitic extraction and electro static discharge analysis. Simulating these large parasitic resistor networks is of vital importance, since it gives an insight into the functional and physical performance of the chip. However, due to the increasing amount of interconnect and metal layers, these networks may contain millions of resistors and nodes, making accurate simulation time consuming or even infeasible. We propose efficient algorithms for three types of analysis of large resistor networks: 1) computation of path resistances; 2) computation of resistor currents; and 3) reduction of resistor networks. The algorithms are exact, orders of magnitude faster than conventional approaches, and enable simulation of very large networks.