A Smart Design Methodology with Distributed Extra Gate-Arrays for Advanced ULSI Memories (Special Issue on LSI Memories)

We propose a smart design methodology for advanced ULSI memories to reduce the turn around time(TAT) for circuit revisions with no area penalty. This methodology was executed by distributing extra gate-arrays, which were composed of the n-channel and p-channel transistors, under the power line and the signal line. This method was applied to the development of a 16 Mb DRAM with double metal wiring. The design TAT can be reduced to 1 / 8 using 1500 gates. This design methodology has been confirmed to be very effective.