Statistical ordering of correlated timing quantities and its application for path ranking
Jinjun Xiong, Chandu Visweswariah, Vladimir Zolotov · 2009
Correct ordering of timing quantities is essential for both timing analysis and design optimization in the presence of process variation, because timing quantities are no longer a deterministic value, but a distribution. This paper proposes a novel metric, called tiered criticalities, which guarantees to provide a unique order for a set of correlated timing quantities while properly taking into account full process space coverage. Efficient algorithms are developed to compute this metric, and its effectiveness on path ranking for at-speed testing is also demonstrated.