Net weighting to reduce repeater counts during placement

We demonstrate how to use placement to ameliorate the predicted repeater explosion problem caused by poor interconnect scaling. We achieve repeater count reduction by dynamically modifying net weights in a context-sensitive manner during global placement and coarse legalization. Our scheme, which models layer assignment as well as valid inter-repeater distance ranges, can decrease the repeater counts significantly with minimal impact on wirelength. Categories and Subject Descriptors B.7.2 [Integrated Circuits]: Design Aids ? Placement and routing; B.7.1 [Integrated Circuits]: Types and Design Styles ? Advanced technologies General Terms Algorithms, Performance, Design, Experimentation Keywords Placement, Net weighting, Force-directed placement, Repeater, Buffering, Scaling, Interconnect.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: DAC
• Authors: Brent Goplen, Prashant Saxena, Sachin S. Sapatnekar
• Keywords: DAC 2005, Design Automation, Force-directed Placement, Repeater Count Reduction, Repeater Explosion Problem