btw, is antenna checker able to spot antena violation through those resistors? which step will do that?

I actually need to look at that. it depends on how openDB threats the ties

I’m not really sure, my thought process was that poly res is still providing short to the gates and should already available during metal1 etching, thus is effectively connecting the full rail to the gates

I see. We would need to see how opendb is treating this. The best way is to make 2 different tie hi low with the cpull up / pull down tr.