Concurrent Wire Spreading, Widening, and Filling

Automated design tools produce layouts complying with all design rules (DRs). However, most wires are designed with minimum width, making them susceptible to random defect induced interruptions (opens). Spaces between wires are also often designed at minimum size, causing yield loss from random defect induced connections (shorts). SFF ("Spread - Fatten - Fill") is a methodology to improve layout - specifically for routing metal layers - in terms of yield loss related to opens and shorts. Additionally, a novel fill concept improves metal density uniformity. In this paper, we will explain issues that were observed and addressed in the implementation on a real layout, and present results achieved in the first experiment on silicon.