Circuit extraction

The electric circuit extraction or simply circuit extraction, also netlist extraction, is the translation of an integrated circuit layout back into the electrical circuit (netlist) it is intended to represent. This extracted circuit is needed for various purposes including circuit simulation, static timing analysis, signal integrity, power analysis and optimization, and logic to layout comparison. Each of these functions requires a slightly different representation of the circuit, resulting in the need for multiple layout extractions. In addition, there may be a postprocessing step of converting the device-level circuit into a purely digital circuit, but this is not considered part of the extraction process.