Semiconductor integrated circuit

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a semiconductor integrated circuit, wherein a desired circuit is formed by combining and laying out a plurality of standard cells and connecting the cells together, of which the cell length, i.e., the gap between a pair of opposed sides, is standardized, the plurality of standard cells forming the desired circuit include complementary in-phase driven standard cells, each of which includes a plurality of complementary transistor pairs that are complementary in conductivity type to each other and have their gate electrodes connected together, and N (≧2) pairs of all the complementary transistor pairs are driven in phase, and the size of the standardized cell length of the complementary in-phase driven standard cell is defined as an M-fold cell length which is M (N≧M≧2) times the basic cell length which is appropriate to the single complementary transistor pair.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A semiconductor integrated circuit, wherein
 a desired circuit is formed by combining and laying out a plurality of standard cells and connecting the cells together, of which the cell length, i.e., the gap between a pair of opposed sides, is standardized, 
 the plurality of standard cells forming the desired circuit include complementary in-phase driven standard cells, each of which includes a plurality of complementary transistor pairs that are complementary in conductivity type to each other and have their gate electrodes connected together, and N (≧2) pairs of the complementary transistor pairs are driven in phase, and 
 the size of the standardized cell length of the complementary in-phase driven standard cell is defined as an M-fold cell length which is M (N≧M≧2) times the basic cell length which is appropriate to the single complementary transistor pair, and the common gate electrodes of at least M pairs of the N complementary transistor pairs to be driven in phase are arranged linearly in the direction of the M-fold cell length, 
 wherein single height cells or standard cells having the basic cell length and multi-height cells or the complementary in-phase driven standard cells having the M-fold cell length are arranged adjacent to each other to share power lines so as to form the desired circuit, 
 wherein the multi-height cell has a total of (M+1) power lines which is the sum of (M−1) power wirings that are arranged parallel to each other to extend in an arbitrary cell length direction orthogonal to the M-fold cell length with a separation pitch equal to the basic cell length obtained by dividing the M-fold cell length into M equal parts and two shared power wirings, each of which is shared with an adjacent cell at the center of the width of one of two cell boundaries, one on each side along the M-fold cell length, the (M+1) power lines include source voltage lines and reference voltage lines that are alternately arranged, and the single height cell connected to a pair of the source voltage line and reference voltage line arranged adjacent and parallel to each other is arranged adjacent to the multi-height cell in the arbitrary cell length direction, 
 wherein the (M+1) power lines and all intracell connection lines are formed with a first metal wiring layer, and intercell signal lines are formed with a second metal wiring layer. 
 
     
     
       2. The semiconductor integrated circuit of  claim 1 , wherein
 single height cells or standard cells having the basic cell length and multi-height cells or the complementary in-phase driven standard cells having the M-fold cell length are arranged adjacent to each other to share power lines so as to form the desired circuit.   
     
     
       3. The semiconductor integrated circuit of  claim 2 , wherein
 the multi-height cell has a total of (M+1) power lines which is the sum of (M−1) power wirings that are arranged parallel to each other to extend in an arbitrary cell length direction orthogonal to the M-fold cell length with a separation pitch equal to the basic cell length obtained by dividing the M-fold length into M equal pasts and two shared power wirings, each of which is shared with an adjacent cell at the center of the width of one of two cell boundaries, one on each side along the M-fold cell length,   the (M+1) power lines include source voltage lines and reference voltage lines that are alternately arranged, and   the single height cell connected to a pair of the source voltage line and reference voltage line arranged adjacent and parallel to each other is arranged adjacent to the multi-height cell in the arbitrary cell length direction.   
     
     
       4. The semiconductor integrated circuit of claim  3  1, wherein two active regions of the same conductivity type where transistors are respectively formed are arranged line-symmetrically with respect to the center line of the width of each of the (M−1) power wirings, and the common gate electrodes are arranged linearly to intersect each of one of the active regions, power wirings and the other of the active regions. 
     
     
       5. The semiconductor integrated circuit of  claim 4 , wherein
 all the gate electrodes overlapping an element isolation region provided between the two active regions are the common gate electrodes extending from one of the two active regions to the other of the two active regions and intersecting the element isolation region. 
 
     
     
       6. The semiconductor integrated circuit of  claim 3 , wherein
 the (M+1) power lines and all intracell connection lines are formed with a first metal wiring layer, and   intercell signal lines are formed with a second metal wiring layer.   
     
     
       7. The semiconductor integrated circuit of claim  2  1, wherein the multi-height cell is a non-rectangular cell that surrounds the single height cell in an L-shaped manner by including first and second rectangular sections, the first rectangular section having the M-fold cell length in which M complementary transistor pairs of all the complementary transistor pairs to be driven in phase are arranged, and the second rectangular section extending along one of two sides that are opposed to each other in the direction of the standardized cell length of the first rectangular section. 
     
     
       8. The semiconductor integrated circuit of  claim 1 , wherein
 a plurality of standard cells forming the desired circuit include at least one non-rectangular standard cell that is L-shaped as a whole in plan view by comprising first and second rectangular sections, the first rectangular section having the M-fold cell length in which M complementary transistor pairs of all the complementary transistor pairs to be driven in phase are arranged, and the second rectangular section extending along one of two sides that are opposed to each other in the direction of the standardized cell length of the first rectangular section. 
 
     
     
       9. The semiconductor integrated circuit of claim 1, wherein output stages of at least M pairs of the N complementary transistor pairs to be driven in phase are separate from each other.  
     
     
       10. A semiconductor integrated circuit comprising:
 a plurality of source voltage lines and reference voltage lines extending in a first direction and arranged alternately in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction;   a single height standard cell, a length of the single height standard cell in the second direction corresponds to a gap between ones of the plurality of source voltage lines and reference voltage lines adjacent to each other; and   a multi-height standard cell, a length of the multi-height standard cell in the second direction corresponds to an integral multiple of the gap between ones of the plurality of source voltage lines and reference voltage lines adjacent to each other,   wherein the multi-height standard cell includes a first gate electrode connected to a second gate electrode, the second gate electrode extending in the second direction,   wherein the first gate electrode extends in the second direction, a branch of the first gate electrode extending from the first gate electrode in the first direction,   wherein a length of the first gate electrode in the second direction is a first length and a length of the second gate electrode in the second direction is a second length, the second length being shorter than the first length.    
     
     
       11. A semiconductor integrated circuit as set forth in claim 10, wherein the first gate electrode is intersecting with the ones of the plurality of source voltage lines and reference voltage lines.