Electronic Design Automation

2.5. CMOS Physical Design

Once transistor schematics are ready, the next design step is to translate the circuit schematic designs into the device and wire placements on silicon. This design step is known as physical design, which produces silicon blueprints specifying the exact size and location of each transistor, wire, contact, and other components before manufacturing masks are generated.

Circuit simulation incorporating physical design specifics can more accurately mimic the real chip behavior than schematic-based circuit simulation. This is because at the circuit schematic level, oftentimes the exact length of each wire is not known yet. Therefore, circuit designs with small design margins are often simulated again with physical design ...