Patent ID: 8191027

Claim:
A computer readable storage medium storing one or more sequences of instructions facilitating design of integrated circuits, wherein execution of said one or more sequences of instructions by one or more processors contained in said digital processing system causes said one or more processors to perform the actions of: receiving a schematic level design of an integrated circuit, wherein said schematic level design indicates a plurality of components connected by a plurality of path according to a topology; forming a netlist from said schematic level design, wherein said netlist indicates said plurality of components connected according to said topology; examining said netlist to identify a set of protected circuits requiring protection from electro static discharge and to determine whether each protected circuit is protected by an appropriate protection circuit; and performing a routing and placement of said integrated circuit based on said netlist if each protected circuit is protected by appropriate protection circuit, wherein said routing and placement is performed after said examining, wherein said receiving further receives a library indicating a corresponding structure for each of said protection circuit and said protected circuit, wherein said examining compares each structure with information in said netlist to identify said protected circuits and said protection circuits.