Patent ID: 7107557

Claim:
A semiconductor integrated circuit layout optimization method for optimally laying out a semiconductor integrated circuit formed of a plurality of cells connected by wires, said method comprising: a layout step of (a) inputting a net: list and a delay library of said plurality of cells, (b) generating placement/wire routing information of said plurality of cells, and (c) generating RC information of parasitic elements of said placement/wire routing information; an input/output terminal information extraction step of (a) inputting said RC information and said delay library and (b) calculating, for each cell of said plurality of cells, an input slew rate and a load capacitance that is connected to an output terminal of each said cell, for extracting input/output terminal information; an instance extraction step of (a) inputting said input/output terminal information and said delay library, (b) calculating, for each said cell, dependence of slew of an output signal waveform upon said input slew rate and said load capacitance, and (c) registering a cell whose dependence is higher than a predetermined dependence threshold level as instance information; and a constraint step of subjecting said cell registered as said instance information to re-layout so that the dependence of each said cell becomes lower than said predetermined dependence threshold level.