Partitioning-based approach to fast on-chip decap budgeting and minimization

This paper proposes a fast decoupling capacitance (decap) allocation and budgeting algorithm for both early stage decap estimation and later stage decap minimization in today’s VLSI physical design. The new method is based on a sensitivity-based conjugate gradient (CG) approach. But it adopts several new techniques, which significantly improve the efficiency of the optimization process. First, the new approach applies the time-domain merged adjoint network method for fast sensitivity calculation. Second, an efficient search step scheme is proposed to replace the timeconsuming line search phase in conventional conjugate gradient method for decap budget optimization. Third, instead of optimizing an entire large circuit, we partition the circuit into a number of smaller sub-circuits and optimize them separately by exploiting the locality of adding decaps. Experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves at least 10X speed-up over the fastest decap allocation method rep...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Hang Li, Zhenyu Qi, Sheldon X.-D. Tan, Lifeng Wu, Yici Cai, Xianlong Hong
• Keywords: Computer Architecture, Conjugate Gradient, DAC 2005, Stage Decap, Stage Decap Minimization