IntegratedCircuits is abbreviated as IC in English, and some people are used to calling it chip. Generally speaking, an integrated circuit is an electronic circuit product, and its various components are integrated in a solid material to perform an electronic function as a whole unit. This circuit is highly integrated and connects several electronic components, which reduces the size of the circuit, speeds up the working speed of the circuit, and reduces the cost and power consumption of the circuit.
The layout design of an integrated circuit, referred to as layout design for short, refers to a plurality of elements in an integrated circuit, at least one of which is an active element, and a part or all of the integrated circuit is an interconnected three-dimensional configuration, or this three-dimensional configuration is prepared for the manufacturing of the integrated circuit. (2) Generally speaking, layout design is to determine the geometric arrangement and connection mode of electronic components used to manufacture integrated circuits in a conductive material.
Layout design is a very important link in the manufacture of integrated circuit products. Design engineers design the structure of integrated circuits according to their functions. Layout design is the combination of artistic creativity and precision electronic engineering technology. In the design, with the help of computer simulation, designers repeatedly adjust the positions of tens of millions of circuit elements and arrange the combinations of these circuits, so that a chip can contain more elements and have more powerful functions, thus maximizing production efficiency and minimizing chip volume. In the early production of integrated circuits, the layout design was drawn on the mask. Like photographic negatives, masks are negatives of circuits placed in chips. The layout design is fixed on the mask, which becomes the template for manufacturing chips and the intermediate product for manufacturing integrated circuits. This kind of mask was once the target that industrial spies tried their best to steal. (3) With the development of science and technology, the current layout design of integrated circuits is mostly stored in the media such as disks and tapes in a coded way, which is somewhat outdated.
It can be seen from the creative process of the above-mentioned layout design that the layout design is the structure of the integrated circuit designed by the design engineer according to the functions to be performed by the integrated circuit, and it is undoubtedly the product of intellectual labor.
Layout design is invisible.
Layout design is a layout design that determines the arrangement and connection of electronic components used to manufacture integrated circuits in conductive materials. Layout-design can be fixed on CD-ROM or mask or integrated circuit products, but these CD-ROM or integrated circuits are only its material carriers, and the layout-design itself is intangible. It's like a work can be fixed on a book or a disk, and the work itself is invisible. The intangibility of layout-design is the main reason why it becomes the object of intellectual property.
Although layout-design is intangible, it is as objective and reproducible as other intangible property. Layout-design should be protected by law, and it should also have a certain form of expression. It should be fixed on a material carrier, perceived by people and can be copied. In the production of integrated circuit products, the layout design is fixed on the disk or mask, which is copied in a large number in integrated circuit products.
(C) Layout design is creative and practical
Layout design can only be protected by law if it is creative. Countries that have enacted the Law on the Protection of Layout Design generally adopt the creativity (originality) of copyright law and the creativity and novelty requirements of patent law in their laws, and make changes according to the characteristics of layout design itself to determine the creativity requirements of layout design. ⑤ The layout design protected by law must be created by the designer himself, which has its own uniqueness. This point draws on the creative requirements of copyright law.
At the same time, the creativity of layout design also requires that the layout design protected by law is progressive and novel compared with the previous layout design. If layout design is to be applied to industrial practice, there is no need to protect intellectual property rights without progress and novelty. However, the creativity and novelty of layout-design do not need to meet the standards required by the patent law, as long as it is progressive and different from the previous layout-design, it can be protected by law. This is because the upgrading of integrated circuit products is manifested in the continuous improvement of integration, and more components are laid out on the same size chip to enhance functions and reduce energy consumption. However, the new integrated circuit products are more integrated than the original products, and it is impossible to be unprecedented, and it is impossible to achieve outstanding substantive characteristics and remarkable progress. Therefore, countries that have enacted the integrated circuit protection law do not directly adopt the standards of creativity and novelty in the patent law, but lower the requirements to adapt to the actual situation.
Integrated circuit is a widely used industrial product, and layout design is an important link in its production process and an intermediate product. The practicality of layout design is very obvious.
Layout design is an independent intellectual property object.
As an independent intellectual property object, layout design has its own characteristics. Therefore, countries that have enacted integrated circuit protection laws basically do not invoke copyright law or patent law to protect them, but formulate separate laws and regulations according to their characteristics and protect them as an independent object.
The United States is the most developed country in the semiconductor industry in the world today, and it is also the first country to protect the layout design of integrated circuits through legislation. 1984, the United States promulgated the semiconductor chip product protection law, which came into effect on 1984, 1 1.8, confirming the exclusive right of layout-design. Although this law is the last chapter of Title 17 (Copyright Law) of the United States Code, that is, Chapter 9, it is actually an independent system, which belongs neither to the copyright law system nor to the patent law system. Layout design right is not copyright, but as an independent right similar to copyright (quasi-copyright), it is specially protected (sui generis protection). ⑥ Under the influence of the US 1984 Law on the Protection of Semiconductor Chips, Japan promulgated the Layout Law of Semiconductor Integrated Circuits on May 3 1. This Japanese law is similar to American law in legislative style and content. It is neither a copyright law nor a patent law, but a separate law.