Patent ID: 7257787

Claim:
A method for reducing an equivalent resistance in an IC layout, the IC layout comprising a plurality of metal layers, the method comprising: checking the IC layout, comprising: determining a first metal layer among the metal layers, the first metal layer comprising at least a wire; determining a second metal layer among the metal layers, the second metal layer comprising at least a wire, at least a part of the wire of the second metal layer overlapping at least a part of the wire of the first metal layer and thereby an overlapped region being determined, the wire of the first metal layer conducting to the wire of the second metal layer through at least one via disposed in the overlapped region; calculating a ratio of the area of the via to the area of the overlapped region; and determining whether the ratio is smaller than a threshold value and thereby generating a checking result; and modifying the IC layout according to the checking result, comprising: disposing one or more extra vias in the overlapped region according to the checking result, so as to assist the conduction between the wire of the first metal layer and the wire of the second metal layer and thereby reduce the equivalent resistance between the first and second metal layers in the IC layout.