To draw the mask layout of a circuit, two main items are necessary at the beginning:
1. Circuit schematic
Any physical layout will actually correspond to a circuit schematic. It is important that the schematic of a functionally correct circuit is present and the layout is drawn according to the schematic (and not the other way around).
The schematic will the contain exact connection diagram and individual device properties. Two example inverter schematics can be seen below. While both schematics are identical, the one on the right is drawn in a way to resemble the final layout.
In this example the NMOS transistor and the PMOS transistor have identical dimensions W=1.2u and L=0.6u
2. Signal flow diagram
A layout can be drawn in a number of different ways. The most important factor determining the actual layout is the signal flow. The layout will almost in all cases be a part of a larger structure or the basic building element of an array of identical blocks.
In modern fabrication technologies, more than one physical layer can be used to transfer signals. For example with the fabrication technology used throughout this manual, a total of 4 layers (poly, Metal-1, Metal-2, Metal-3) can be used. The general flow of the signal connections as well as their layers need to be pre-determined. The following is an sample flow diagram used for the example layout:
In this flow diagram, it has been decided that all signals are on the same layer (blue, Metal-1) and that all signals will travel horizontally. Note that the signal flow diagram is just a concept that you can visualize for a particular circuit, or a simple scetch that you can scribble on the back of an envelope. The actual mask layout will roughly follow this concept.
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