Patent EP0288803A2 successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
EP0288803A2
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EP
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Personalizable semiconductor chips for analog and analog/digital circuits
Assignee: International Business Machines Corp
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Filing: 1988-04-08
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2008-04-08
Abstract
Abstract A computer converts a description of an analog circuit to a physical representation in terms of devices on a personalizable chip. The devices are placed and wired automatically for fabrication of the chip. Descriptions of resistors in the circuit are expanded by wiring multiple contacts of one or more actual resistor devices on the chip. The chip (100) uses multiple rows of devices (122) arranged in columns (121); each row contains multiple transistor and resistor devices.
Inventors
- 👤 Robert Lloyd Hedman
- 👤 Gordon Grant Koehler
- 👤 Karl Louis Ladin
- 👤 John Thomas Trnka
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-04 14:04
CPC Classifications
H; H10; H10D; H10D84/00; H10D84/90; H10D84/901
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
68 words
A personalizable semiconductor chip, characterized in that it comprises a column of circuit bricks, said column being disposed along one dimension of said chip, each of said bricks having multiple unconnected transistor devices and multiple unconnected resistor devices all disposed in a single row along a second dimension substantially perpendicular to said first dimension, said rows being disposed side by side along said first dimension of said chip.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
68 words
A personalizable semiconductor chip, characterized in that it comprises a column of circuit bricks, said column being disposed along one dimension of said chip, each of said bricks having multiple unconnected transistor devices and multiple unconnected resistor devices all disposed in a single row along a second dimension substantially perpendicular to said first dimension, said rows being disposed side by side along said first dimension of said chip.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
41 words
The chip of Claim 1. characterized in that it further comprises additional columns of said bricks. said additional columns being disposed side by side along said second dimension so as to form a two-dimensional array of said bricks on said chip.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
41 words
The chip of Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that each of said transistor and resistor devices in said bricks has a plurality of contacts, each of said contacts in multiple ones of said bricks being disposed on a rectangular grid.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
31 words
The chip of Claim 1 or 2. characterized in that at least some of said resistor devices in multiple ones of said bricks have at least three contacts along their length.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
23 words
The chip of Claim 4. characterized in that said resistor-device contacts are disposed at fixed locations along the length of said resistor devices.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
33 words
The chip of Claim 4, characterized in that at least one of said contacts of different ones of said resistor devices are placed at different locations along the length of said resistor devices.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
39 words
The chip of anyone of Claims 1-6, characterized in that it further comprises a first layer of interconnection wiring overlying said devices, the wiring in said first layer running in a direction substantially along the length of said bricks.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
35 words
The chip of Claim 7, characterized in that it further comprises a second layer of interconnection wiring, the wiring in said second layer running substantially in a direction perpendicular to the length of said bricks.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
29 words
The chip of anyone of Claims 1-8, characterized in that each of said bricks includes at least three NPN transistor devices, one PNP transistor device, and two resistor devices.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
23 words
The chip of Claim 9, charac:erized in that each of said transistor devices is disposed in the same direction of current flow therethrough.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
123 words
A method of wiring a set of physical resistor devices on a semiconductor chip so as to achieve a set of specified logical resistance values. characterized in that it comprises the steps of : placing multiple resistor devices on said chip, each of said devices having a number of contacts along its length so as to divide it into multiple segments each having a different resistance value; determining a maximum and a minimum resistance value for said devices; identifying a number of logical resistance values lying between said maximum and minimum resistance values; connecting together certain of said contacts of one of said physical resistor devices so as to achieve overall resistance values most closely approximating corresponding ones of said logical resistance values.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
123 words
A method of wiring a set of physical resistor devices on a semiconductor chip so as to achieve a set of specified logical resistance values. characterized in that it comprises the steps of : placing multiple resistor devices on said chip, each of said devices having a number of contacts along its length so as to divide it into multiple segments each having a different resistance value; determining a maximum and a minimum resistance value for said devices; identifying a number of logical resistance values lying between said maximum and minimum resistance values; connecting together certain of said contacts of one of said physical resistor devices so as to achieve overall resistance values most closely approximating corresponding ones of said logical resistance values.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method of Claim 11, characterized in that said segments on each of said resistor devices have progressively increasing resistance values between successive pairs of said contacts.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
44 words
The method of Claim 12, characterized. in that the resistance values of said segments are selected such that the resistance of any segment and any series combination of segments differs substantially from the resistance of all other segments and series combinations of said segments.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
55 words
The method of Claim 11. characterized in that it further comprises the steps of : identifying a number of logical resistance values lying outside said maximum and minimum resistance values; . connecting together multiple ones of said resistor devices so as to achieve overall resistance values approximating corresponding ones of said last-named logical resistance values.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
49 words
The method of Claim 14, characterized in that it further comprises the step of connecting together certain of said contacts on at least one of said multiple ones of resistor devices so as to achieve overall resistance values more closely approximating corresponding ones of said last-named logical resistance values.
Claim 18
Independent Claim
109 words
A method implemented in a data processor for automatically fabricating very large numbers of analog electrical devices as a circuit on a semiconductor chip represented by a chip description, characterized in that it comprises the steps of : capturing data representing individual units of said circuit and their desired interconnections so as to produce a logical description of said circuit; converting said logical description into a device-level physical description representing actual physical devices available for use on said chip; placing said devices at particular locations on said chip in accordance with said physical description; wiring interconnecting conductors among said devices on said chip in accordance with said physical description.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
109 words
A method implemented in a data processor for automatically fabricating very large numbers of analog electrical devices as a circuit on a semiconductor chip represented by a chip description, characterized in that it comprises the steps of : capturing data representing individual units of said circuit and their desired interconnections so as to produce a logical description of said circuit; converting said logical description into a device-level physical description representing actual physical devices available for use on said chip; placing said devices at particular locations on said chip in accordance with said physical description; wiring interconnecting conductors among said devices on said chip in accordance with said physical description.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
38 words
The method of Claim 16, characterized in that the step of converting said logical description into said physical description includes the step of expanding individual units of said logical description into multiple ones of said actual physical devices.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
40 words
The method of Claim 17, characterized in that at least one of said individual units is a value of electrical resistance, and wherein the step of converting said logical description into said physical description includes the step of expanding said
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
18 words
resistance into a specification of multiple physical resistor devices and interconnection wiring among said multiple physical resistor devices.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
18 words
resistance into a specification of multiple physical resistor devices and interconnection wiring among said multiple physical resistor devices.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
53 words
The method of Claim 18, characterized in that the step of expanding said resistance includes the steps of : producing a resistor device of at least one standard resistance value having contacts defining multiple resistor segments; and producing a wiring pattern interconnecting said multiple segments so as to achieve said certain resistance value.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
19 words
The method of Claim 18, characterized in that said step of expanding said resistance includes the steps of :
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
57 words
producing multiple resistor devices having at least one standard resistance value; producing a wiring pattern interconnecting said resistor devices in a combination so as to exceed said certain resistance value; and placing a contact at a location within one of said resistor devices so as to decrease the overall resistance of said combination to said certain value.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
57 words
producing multiple resistor devices having at least one standard resistance value; producing a wiring pattern interconnecting said resistor devices in a combination so as to exceed said certain resistance value; and placing a contact at a location within one of said resistor devices so as to decrease the overall resistance of said combination to said certain value.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
No citation records indexed.
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