Power or pin checks report missing or wrong routing tracks. How do you proceed?

Short Answer

Routing tracks are defined by real technology-layer rules — they're not decorative grid lines you can regenerate arbitrarily just to make a check pass. The right first move is confirming the technology-layer definitions themselves: preferred routing direction, pitch, offset, width, whether the track set covers the full core, any restricted regions, and — importantly — whether the tracks were deliberately regenerated at some point in the flow (which can be a legitimate reason for a mismatch).

Technical Explanation

• Pre-power-insertion and pre-pin-placement checks both depend on valid routing direction and track definitions being in place — if those checks are failing, the underlying track setup is the thing to verify, not just the specific pin or PG shape flagged.
• Compare whatever you find against the approved technology setup for the project — a locally "fixed" track definition that doesn't match the approved tech file is its own kind of defect, even if it silences the immediate warning.
• Never create arbitrary tracks just to make a missing/wrong-track check pass — that's treating the symptom while leaving the actual technology-file mismatch unresolved, and it can produce results the router can't actually honor.

Formula Or Decision Rule

Decision rule: required layers have approved track patterns crossing the intended regions.

What To Check

• Warning sign: A locally invented pattern fixes one pin but conflicts with spacing or the rest of the block.
• Inspect: choose one affected region, macro, row, pin, path, or net and trace the physical cause.
• Correct: Restore the approved track definition and rerun power, pin, and floorplan reports.

Healthy, Suspicious & Hard-stop Results

• Healthy: Confirm technology-layer definitions, preferred directions, pitch, offset, width, core coverage, restrictions, and whether tracks were intentionally regenerated. Do not create arbitrary tracks to silence the check.
• Hard stop: required legality or physical feasibility is missing or unexplained.

What The Interviewer Is Testing

The interviewer is testing whether you can connect “Power or pin checks report missing or wrong routing tracks. ” to measurable physical evidence and an owned correction.

Follow-up Question & Model Response

"* Candidate Model Response: Model response: “I would change it if the same controlled rerun shows that a locally invented pattern fixes one pin but conflicts with spacing or the rest of the block. ”