Blade and Razor: Cell and Interconnect Delay Analysis Using CurrentBased Models

In order to adequately account for nanometer effects during tim-ing analysis, archaic standard cell models must be replaced. Sim-plifying assumptions used during characterization, such as nearly linear voltage inputs or lumped-capacitance loads, are no longer valid. Signal integrity analysis further complicates the character-ization process because the typical voltage waveform used during characterization does not contain a noise component. This paper introduces two new technologies for standard cell and interconnect timing analysis: Blade and Razor. Blade is a novel cell model and runtime engine based on current flow. Razor is the accompanying interconnect model. Both Blade and Razor produce and consume arbitrary voltage waveforms with near-SPICE accuracy at speeds tens of thousands of times faster than SPICE