SI Signoff Reports: Pitfalls & Red Flags

Pitfalls and red flags

Pitfalls & Red Flags for SI Signoff Reports focuses on SI-clean path %, remaining aggressor violations, signoff waiver count. The goal is to connect the observable symptom to timing mechanism, ownership, and regression risk.

• A path looks clean in one view but fails in signoff SPEF.

• The SDC allows behavior that the implementation team assumed was illegal.

• A generated_clock definition shifts capture edge silently.

• Hold fails on short paths after setup-focused ECO.

• The fix improves one corner but regresses another MMMC scenario.

Layer responsibility check

STA OWNERSHIP LAYERS — SI Signoff Reports

layer              owns                         failure mode
----------------   --------------------------   ---------------------
constraints        clocks, IO, exceptions       false violations
implementation     cells, nets, placement       real path delay
extraction         SPEF/RC corners              view mismatch
signoff policy     derate, MMMC matrix          margin disputes
closure           ECO order, regression        fix breaks other corner

STA deep dive

Coupling makes delay a function of neighbors, not just wire RC.

Concept diagram

SI ON VICTIM

victim net delay = base_RC + coupling_from_aggressors

Metric graph

DELTA DELAY ON CRITICAL PATHS

no SI   ████████  1.2ns
with SI ██████████  1.35ns  (+150ps)

Reports and artifacts

• delta delay report

• aggressor list

• noise peaks

• SI WNS delta

Mini case study

Setup fixed by upsize but SI worsened — spacing ECO on bus bits recovered margin.

Debug branches

• Re-run SI after every timing ECO

• Shield wide switching buses

Senior review question

Ask: what corner/mode/view proves this topic is closed or failing?

Key takeaways

• State corner, mode, view, and database tag with every slack claim.

• Run setup and hold plus MMMC regression after every ECO.

Common pitfalls

• Comparing STA runs with different SPEF or SDC tags.

• Broad false_path to green-wash violations.

• Setup-only ECO without hold check.

Principal STA review addendum

SI signoff aggregates delta delay and noise against foundry rules and product margin; reports must map to fix ownership.

Metric: SI-clean path %, remaining aggressor violations, signoff waiver count