Method and apparatus for extracting bridges from an integrated circuit layout

An embodiment of the present invention relates to the field of analysis of defects in integrated circuits and, more particularly, to extracting likely bridge sites. A bridge fault extractor. A computer-implemented method for performing fault extraction from an integrated circuit layout in a two-net analysis mode includes determining maximum critical areas from the layout for a maximum defect size of a set of defect sizes to be analyzed wherein each maximum critical area corresponds to a net-name pair. The maximum critical areas are then locally merged by net-name pair to determine an area of a union of maximum critical areas for each net-name pair. Critical areas for defect sizes smaller than the maximum defect size are determined from the maximum critical areas and locally merged by net-name pair to determine an area of a union of critical areas for each net-name pair for each smaller defect size. In a multi-net analysis mode, overlap rectangles are determined by net-name pair. The overlap rectangles are then used to calculate critical areas for two-net and multi-net bridges for each defect size in a set of defect sizes to be analyzed. In one aspect, similar to the two-net analysis mode, overlap rectangles are first determined for the maximum defect size and are resized for smaller defect sizes.