Fast algorithms for slew constrained minimum cost buffering

As a prevalent constraint, sharp slew rate is often required in circuit design which causes a huge demand for buffering resources. This problem requires ultra-fast buffering techniques to handle large volume of nets, while also minimizing buffering cost. This problem is intensively studied in this paper. First, a highly efficient algorithm based on dynamic programming is proposed to optimally solve slew buffering with discrete buffer locations. Second, a new algorithm is developed to handle the difficult cases in which no assumption is made on buffer input slew. Third, an adaptive buffer selection approach is proposed to efficiently handle slew buffering with continuous buffer locations. Experiments on industrial netlists demonstrate that our algorithms are very effective and highly efficient: we achieve > 100? speed up and save up to 40% buffer area over the commonlyused van Ginneken style buffering. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.7.2 [Integrated Circuits]: Design Aids - Pla...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2006
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Shiyan Hu, Charles J. Alpert, Jiang Hu, Shrirang K. Karandikar, Zhuo Li, Weiping Shi, Cliff C. N. Sze
• Keywords: DAC 2006, Design Automation, Ginneken Style Buffering, Keywords Buffer Insertion, Ultra-fast Buffering Techniques