What is Design Rule Checking?


Design Rule Checking (DRC) verifies as to whether a specific design meets the constraints imposed by the process technology to be used for its manufacturing.

DRC checking is an essential part of the physical design flow and ensures the design meets manufacturing requirements and will not result in a chip failure. The process technology rules are provided by process engineers and/or fabrication facility.

Types of Design Rule Checking

Each process technology will have its own set of rules. The number of DRC rules and complexity of rules increases as the manufacturing technology shrinks at advanced nodes.

Here are some basic and common types of DRC rules

  • Minimum width
  • Minimum spacing 
  • Minimum area
  • Wide metal jog
  • Misaligned via wire
  • Special notch spacing
  • End of line spacing

What solutions does Synopsys offer?

Synopsys’ IC Validator physical verification is a comprehensive signoff solution, including design rule checking (DRC), layout versus schematic (LVS), dummy fill capabilities and more.