STA Mastery · All levels

Path Group War Room: Debug Playbook

Debug Playbook for Path Group War Room.

Debug playbook

Debug Playbook for Path Group War Room focuses on WNS per path group, endpoint owner assignment rate. The goal is to connect the observable symptom to timing mechanism, ownership, and regression risk.

STA debug is a search for the FIRST deviation, not the loudest downstream symptom. Hold failures after setup ECO are a classic example of fixing the wrong layer first.

Root-cause tree

diagram

ROOT-CAUSE TREE — Path Group War Room

WNS per path group, endpoint owner assignment rate looks wrong
        |
   same netlist tag?
     /        \
   no          yes
   |            |
 view/SDC     real path or
 mismatch     constraint bug
 /    \           |
lib   SPEF    delay breakdown
diff  diff    cell vs net

Freeze the failing netlist tag, SDC revision, and SPEF corner.
Find the first constraint or delay anomaly on the critical path.
Map the path to launch/capture clocks and path group.
Classify the failure: constraint bug, view mismatch, cell delay, net delay, or SI.
Prove the mechanism with one reduced path or isolated scenario.
Patch the smallest owner-controlled fix and rerun setup, hold, and MMMC.

Review memo template

diagram

STAFF STA REVIEW MEMO — STA Debug Playbook / Path Group War Room

1. Symptom
   - Watched metric: WNS per path group, endpoint owner assignment rate
   - Failing scenario: <corner/mode/view>
   - Path group: <reg2reg / in2reg / reg2out / async>
   - Database tags: <netlist, SDC, SPEF, lib>

2. Mechanism hypothesis
   - Primary mechanism: War rooms assign failing path groups to owning teams (RTL, synth, PD, CTS) based on delay breakdown and path class.
   - Competing hypothesis: <constraint bug, view mismatch, cell delay, net delay, SI>
   - Missing evidence: <report_timing, clock report, constraint trace>

3. Proposed action
   - Minimal reversible change: <SDC fix, sizing, VT swap, route, useful skew>
   - Expected metric movement: <WNS/TNS delta>
   - Regression risk: hold, other corners, SI, leakage

4. Signoff
   - Re-run artifact: path group heatmap, owner assignment sheet, daily WNS standup notes
   - Required owners: timing closure lead, STA lead
   - Final decision: ECO, waive, constraint fix, or escalate

STA deep dive

Debug hygiene separates senior STA leads from report readers.

Concept diagram

diagram

DEBUG ORDER

1. same tags?  2. constraints?  3. view?  4. real path?  5. ECO

Metric graph

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ROOT CAUSE MIX (typical)

constraint bugs  ████████  35%
view mismatch    ██████    25%
real path        ██████    25%
methodology      ████      15%

Reports and artifacts

run manifest
SDC diff
SPEF tag
scenario isolation

Mini case study

Mystery regression: SPEF corner tag typo in run script — not a design bug.

Debug branches

Manifest every run
War room by path group

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

War rooms assign failing path groups to owning teams (RTL, synth, PD, CTS) based on delay breakdown and path class.

Metric: WNS per path group, endpoint owner assignment rate

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