Transforming IC layout description from the unrestricted to a restricted format

A technology independent processor for transforming integrated circuit layout description from the unrestricted to a restricted format is developed. We use doubly-linked lists and a vector of pointers to store and process geometrical objects (rectangles) of a circuit layout. The restricted format contains a set of non-overlapping rectangles that abut only along horizontal edges. The performance of this transformer is illustrated on the example of integrated circuit CHIP by the analysis of total number of rectangles and extracted critical areas for shorts before and after processing.