Systems and methods are disclosed herein for determining the placement of
storage and non-storage cells or components, representing a semiconductor
component in a design stage, on an integrated circuit die. In one
embodiment, regions of a semiconductor die are analyzed with respect to
the susceptibility of a region to be exposed to radiation and the
distance between a storage component and a local clock buffer. The
radiation, for instance, may be alpha particle radiation emitted from
lead (Pb) isotopes in solder bumps formed on the integrated circuit die.
The distance, spatial positioning and/or physical proximity of a selected
local clock buffer and a storage component are preferably selected so
that the skew between the storage component and the local clock buffer is
about 30 picoseconds or less. Other maximum skews may be employed,
however, such as about 100 picoseconds or less, about 90 picoseconds or
less, about 80 picoseconds or less, about 70 picoseconds or less, about
60 picoseconds or less, about 50 picoseconds or less, about 40
picoseconds or less, about 20 picoseconds or less, about 10 picoseconds
or less and about 5 picoseconds or less.