Patent ID: 8849440

Claim:
A design method comprising: generating, by a computer system, a design structure for an integrated circuit, said design structure comprising at least layout information for said integrated circuit and client-specific manufacturing information for said integrated circuit, said client-specific manufacturing information comprising client-specific service requests for services to be performed by a manufacturing facility during manufacturing of said integrated circuit, client-specific processing directives for processing to be performed by said manufacturing facility during said manufacturing of said integrated circuit and purchase order requirements for said integrated circuit; storing, by said computer system on a machine-readable medium, said design structure for said integrated circuit in a data format that represents said layout information and said client-specific manufacturing information in hierarchical form with different types of said client-specific manufacturing information at different data format levels in said data format; storing, by said computer system on said machine-readable medium, an index of said client-specific manufacturing information by type and data format level for subsequent sorting and use by said manufacturing facility, said index mapping said different types of said client-specific manufacturing information to said different data format levels of said data format; releasing said machine-readable medium to said manufacturing facility; accessing an updated final design structure created by said manufacturing facility based on feedback information received by said manufacturing facility during processing of said final design structure; and updating final design structures provided to other manufacturing facilities based on said updated final design structure created by said manufacturing facility.