Patent ID: 7849427

Claim:
A computer-performed method of designing an electrical circuit interconnect structure, comprising: in a computer model of an interconnect structure design, routing, using a computer, a first conductive path for a critical signal using auto-routing algorithm; prior to accepting the first conductive signal path as a routed path according to an auto-routing path acceptance criteria, routing a second conductive path for a reference return corresponding to the critical signal proximate the first conductive path, wherein the auto-routing path acceptance criteria requires meeting criteria for placement of both the signal path and the reference return path; responsive to meeting the auto-routing path acceptance criteria for both of the first conductive path and the second conductive path, accepting the first conductive path and the second conductive path as a routed pair for the critical signal and the corresponding reference return; responsive to not meeting the auto-routing path acceptance criteria for either of the first conductive path or the second conductive path, repeating the routing of the first conductive signal path using another routing and repeating the routing of the second conductive signal path; and repeating the routing a first conductive path, routing a second conductive path and accepting for other critical signals.