Patent ID: 7185294

Claim:
A method for circuit design, the method comprising: a) providing a globally scalable standard cell library including a plurality of cell types, each cell type providing a corresponding circuit function, and each cell type having one or more corresponding cells; wherein a global channel length L c is substantially equal to the channel length of every transistor in each of said cells, and wherein L c is within a predetermined range L 1 ≦L c ≦L 2 ; wherein each of said cells has a physical cell size and cell terminal locations which do not depend on said global channel length L c ; b) selecting said global channel length L c ; c) performing automatic circuit design by selecting cells from said cell library to provide a circuit design, wherein each of said selected cells has transistors with said selected channel length L c ; wherein said circuit design has a layout including said physical cell sizes and said cell terminal locations that is substantially independent of L c , thereby providing the ability to vary L c in said circuit design without altering said layout.