Parallel Standard Cell Placement on a Cluster of Workstations

In this paper we report experiences on a parallel implementation of a standard cell placement algorithm on a cluster of myrinet connected PCs. The proposed algorithm is based on a recently developed placement tool (called Feng Shui) that extends recursive bisection placement to incorporate global aspects of the design. This is achieved using an efficient and novel optimization called iterative deletion. We investigate several algorithmic and system-level optimizations. Contrary to previous attempts at parallelizing placement algorithms, initial experimental results show significant performance improvement with small reduction in the placement quality. Furthermore, the reduction in the placement quality does not increase with the number of processors.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2001
• Where: CLUSTER
• Authors: Faris H. Khundakjie, Patrick H. Madden, Nael B. Abu-Ghazaleh, Mehmet Can Yildiz
• Keywords: Cell Placement Algorithm, CLUSTER 2001, Distributed And Parallel Computing, Placement Algorithms, Placement Quality