Developing Standard Cells for TSMC 0.

25 m Technology with
MOSIS DEEP Rules

Dong S. Ha, Jos B. Sulistyo, and Jonathan Perry

Virginia Tech VLSI for Telecommunication Laboratory
Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Blacksburg, VA 24060, U S A
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

In this brief technical report, the cells contained in the standard cell library vtvtlib25 are
listed. Further, some guidelines for creating new cells for the library are given.

I. Cells Contained in the Library

The cell library vtvtlib25 is developed and maintained by the VTVT (Virginia Tech
VLSI for Telecommunication) Group for the TSMC 0.25 m technology. The MOSIS
DEEP rule (SCN5M) is used. The library contains the cells listed in Table I.

Table I. Cells Contained in the Library vtvtlib25

Cell Name Function
buf_[1,2,4] Noninverting buffer, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
inv_[1,2,4] Inverter, drive strength 1, 2 or 4
and2_[1,2,4] 2-input AND gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
and3_[1,2,4] 3-input AND gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
and4_[1,2,4] 4-input AND gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
or2_[1,2,4] 2-input OR gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
or3_[1,2,4] 3-input OR gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
or4_[1,2,4] 4-input OR gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
nand2_[1,2,4] 2-input NAND gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
nand3_[1,2,4] 3-input NAND gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
nand4_[1,2,4] 4-input NAND gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
nor2_[1,2,4] 2-input NOR gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
nor3_[1,2,4] 3-input NOR gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
nor4_[1,2,4] 4-input NOR gate, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
xor2_[1,2] 2-input XOR gate, drive strength 1 or 2
xnor2_[1,2] 2-input XNOR gate, drive strength 1 or 2

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mux2_[1,2,4] 2-to-1 multiplexer, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
mux3_2 3-to-1 multiplexer, drive strength 2
mux4_2 4-to-1 multiplexer, drive strength 2
ABnorC (ip1*ip2+ip3), drive strength 1
ABorC ip1*ip2+ip3, drive strength 1
ab_or_c_or_d ip1*ip2+ip3+ip4, drive strength 1
Not_ab_or_c_or_d (ip1*ip2+ip3+ip4), drive strength 1
Dec2_4 2 to 4 decoder, drive strength 1
Dec3_8 3 to 8 decoder, drive strength 1
fulladder One-bit ripple-carry adder, drive strength 1
bufzp_2 noninverting tristate buffer, low-enabled, drive strength 2
invzp_[1,2,4] inverting tristate buffer, low-enabled, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
cd_8 clock driver, drive strength 8
cd_12 clock driver, drive strength 12
cd_16 clock driver, drive strength 16
lp_[1,2] high-active D latch, drive strength 1 or 2
Lrp_[1, 2, 4] high-active D latch with asynchronous low-active reset and drive
strength 1, 2, or 4
Lrsp_[1, 2, 4] high-active D latch with asynchronous low-active reset and
asynchronous high-active set, drive strength 1, 2, or 4
Dp_[1,2,4] rising-edge triggered D flip-flop (with 1, 2, or 4 drive strength)
Drp_[1,2,4] rising-edge triggered D flip-flop with asynchronous low-active reset
(1, 2, or 4 drive strength)
drsp_[1,2,4] rising-edge triggered D flip-flop with asynchronous low-active reset
and asynchronous high-active set
dksp_1 rising-edge triggered D flip-flop with asynchronous active high set
and extra inverted output.
dtsp_1 rising-edge triggered D flip-flop with asynchronous active high set
input and serial scan input.
dtrsp_2 rising-edge triggered D flip-flop with asynchronous low-active
reset, asynchronous high-active set, and serial scan input
jkrp_2 rising-edge triggered JK flip-flop with asynchronous active-low
reset and extra inverted output, drive strength 2.
filler filler cell (empty cell with power and ground rails and nwell)

Additionally, the complete library also contains layouts of some dummy pads. These
dummy pads are not intended for use with actual designs. They were created only for the
convenience of creating LEF files. The actual pad cells, particularly the corner pad, are
too large to be used easily in LEF file generation using abstract (the LEF file
generation tool in the Cadence suite). Here the dummy pad cells are shown to allow for
appropriate modifications by the user if needed. Again, these are not the actual layouts of

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the pads themselves (designed by Tanner Research Corporation), which have to be
downloaded from the MOSIS website.

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II. Recommended Settings and Sizes for Standard Cell Layouts

If the user desires to add new cells to the layout library, he or she should follow the
design requirements and guidelines that this section provides. This document assumes
that the user is already familiar with standard cell design. Here, some of the values used
by the library (such as metal track width, routing pitch) are given.

LAYOUT EDITOR DEFAULTS:

Set your grid (options Display in Cadence, or the e shortcut key) to 1.08 m min
spacing, 7.56 m major spacing. It is also helpful to turn on the grid lines.
1 grid unit = routing grid = 9 (1.08 m)

CELL DIMENSIONS:
These rules must be followed for the cells to be usable with other cells already in the
library, even if they are not required by the DRC kit or by MOSIS rules.

TECHNOLOGY: TSMC 0.25m, MOSIS deep-submicron (SCN5M-DEEP,

NCSU_TechLib_tsmc03d) lambda = 0.12 m
DESIGN KIT: Modified version of NCSU kit version 1.2 or later (modified to include
MOSIS SCN-DEEP design rules and to implement the wide metal spacing rules). It is
believed that the modifications of the CDK files included with this library will also
function properly with version 1.1; however, this has not been tested.

INTERCELL INTERCONNECTS: metals (1-5)

INTRACELL INTERCONNECTS: should be limited to poly, metal1 and metal2
whenever possible. All attempts should be made to route metal2 in the horizontal
direction only. Likewise, metal1 should be routed vertically whenever possible.

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CELL WIDTH: integer multiples of 9. Note that the horizontal extension of nwell,
nselect, and pselect at the power and ground rails is not considered part of the cell width.
CELL HEIGHT: 126 = 14 routing grid or 15.12 m.

METAL PITCH: metal1 = metal2 = metal3 = metal4 = 9; metal5 = 18

METAL WIDTH: 4 for all layers
VIA METAL ENCLOSURE SIZE: 552, except 772 for m5 over via4 (for all via
layers, size = 332)
METAL OFFSET: 0 for all layers

CORE CELL ORIGIN: (0, 0) for ground pins lower left corner
LEFT/RIGHT CELL EDGE TO NEAREST METAL: 9 to center, 7 to edge.

PREFERRED METAL DIRECTION INSIDE CELL: m1, m3, m5 vertical; m2, m4

horizontal. This rule doe not have to be strictly followed for m1; however it should still
be used as a guideline.

POWER / GROUND PINS / RAILS: named vdd/vss, 1.32m = 11 high. Width,

which is defined as cell width, must be integer multiples of 9. The y-coordinates of
the rails are the topmost/bottom 11 of the cell: from 115 to 126 for vdd and from 0
to 11 for vss.
SIGNAL PIN NAMING: op for combinational outputs; q or qb for sequential
outputs; ip, ip1 ipn or whatever for combinational inputs; ck for clock; s
(active high) or sb (active low) set; r or rb reset; sm or smb scan input; ip for
D-type latch/flip-flops. Other type of flip-flops: use any reasonable names (e.g. j and
k would be good for JK flip-flops).

TRANSISTOR SIZES: Length 2. Width varies according to drive strength. For lowest
drive strength 7 (n), 14(p). For hi-drive-strength, use 14 (n), 28 (p), Wp/Wn=2
always for primitive gates. For 4 drive strength cells, the output stage must be formed

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from two 2 cells in parallel. An exception to the Wp/Wn=2 rule is the transmission gate,
where Wp = Wn = 11 for low drive and 21 for higher drives.

p-TRANSISTOR n-WELL HEIGHT: 7.92 m (66 ); bottom at y=7.2 m (60 ), top

at 15.12 m (126 )
p-TRANSISTOR n-WELL WIDTH: should be just wide enough in the x direction to
enclose the p-transistors and well/substrate contacts without design rule violations.
SELECT ENCLOSURE OF TRANSISTORS WIDTH: the same width as the
power/ground rails (same x coordinates for both left and right edges).
SELECT ENCLOSURE OF n-TRANSISTORS HEIGHT: 2.64 m (22 ); lower
edge at y=0.96 m (8 ), upper at 3.60 m (30 )
SELECT ENCLOSURE OF p-TRANSISTORS HEIGHT: 4.56 m (38 ); lower
edge at y=7.32 m (61 ), upper at 11.88 m (99 )

SELECT FOR SUBSTRATE/WELL TIE WIDTH: The same as the width of the
power/ground rails (the same x coordinates for left- and right-edges as vdd/vss rails)
SELECT FOR p-SUBSTRATE TIE HEIGHT: 0.96 m (8 ); lower edge at y=0 m
(0 ), upper at 0.96 m (8 )
SELECT FOR n-WELL TIE HEIGHT: 0.96 m (8 ); lower edge at y=14.04 m
(117 ), upper at 15.12 m (126 )

ACTIVE ENCLOSURE OF SUBSTRATE/WELL TIE WIDTH: just wide enough in

the x direction to enclose the substrate ties without DRC errors
ACTIVE ENCLOSURE OF p-SUBSTRATE TIE HEIGHT: 0.48 m (4 ); lower
edge at y=0.24 m (2 ), upper at 0.72 m (6 )
ACTIVE ENCLOSURE OF n-WELL TIE HEIGHT: 0.48 m (4 ); lower edge at
y=14.28 m (119 ), upper at 14.76 m (123 )

POLY ENCLOSURE OF ACTIVE: 0.30-0.36 m (2.5-3 ) even if the DRC kit is

happy with smaller overlaps. What is poly enclosure (a.k.a gate extension of active)

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anyway? See MOSIS rule no.3.3,
http://www.mosis.org/Technical/Designrules/scmos/scmos-poly.html for description.

Miscellaneous Rules:

Excluding VDD and VSS rails, no metal should be closer than 0.30 m (2.5 ) to the
edge of the cell. Please try to get as close to 0.30 m as possible on both sides. For
any wide metal traces (other than the power/ground rails) in your design, more space
will have to be given. At least 0.72 m (6 ) between cell edge and the wide metal
trace should be sufficient.
Make sure ALL parts in layer via and higher (via, metal2, via2 and higher)
are centered on the grid. This includes any metal line that will function as an I/O.
For example, the output of a NAND gate does not need a contact, but the metal line
that creates the contact should be centered on the grid
Refrain from using metal3 or higher in a cell unless absolutely necessary (in most
cases, metal1 and metal2 should be sufficient).
Ideal metal spacing is 5 (0.60 m) this is edge-to-edge spacing.

Example of cell:
Figure 1 is a 2-input NAND gate. Its pinout is as follows:
vdd = power; vss = ground
ip = input; op = output
The lower left corner of the vss pin defines the origin for this cell.

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Figure 1. An example 2-input NAND gate