Design automation of transistor networks, a new challenge

The power optimization of integrated circuits must be observed in all levels of abstraction of the design flow. The traditional standard cell flow don't really takes care of power minimization at physical level, because there is a limited number of logical functions in a cell library, as well a limited number of sizing versions. To really obtain an optimization at physical level, it is needed to allow the use of any possible logical function, by also using complex cells (Static CMOS complex gates - SCCG) that are not available in a cell library. To have a “freedom” in the logic design step, it is needed the use of an EDA set of tools to let the automatic design of any transistor network (even with a different number of P and N transistors). This approach can reduce the amount of transistors needed to implement a circuit, reducing the power consumption, mainly the leakage power that is proportional to the number of components (transistors). This paper presents some examples and comparisons between the standard cell approach and the network of transistors approach. The flexibility of the approach can also let the designers to define layout parameters to cope with problems like tolerance to transient effects, yield improvement, printability and DFM. The designer can also manage the sizing of transistors to reduce power consumption, without compromising the clock frequency.