Performance optimization by interacting netlist transformations and placement

Modeling repeaters explicitly within analytical placement

“…In this paper, we demonstrate experimentally that the current paradigms for handling repeaters by interleaving their insertion with incremental placement are not scalable. We use the forcedirected quadratic placement approach [5] (a paradigm that is widely recognized as among the most stable and robust of today's competitive placement approaches [11]) to demonstrate that proposed flows such as [7][2] [10] will no longer be able to converge at future technology nodes. We then describe a theoretical modification to this formulation that preserves convergence even in the presence of a large number of repeaters.…”

Cycle time optimization by timing driven placement with simultaneous netlist transformations

“…It is attempted to optimize the circuit by a restricted set of logical netlist transformations. These transformations can be applied before the routing process [15]. In this case the wire lengths are estimated from the placement.…”

“…In [15] Stenz et al use global netlist transformations (signal substitutions) together with an iterative placement algorithm. They also start with a netlist after placement.…”

“…Recently, several approaches to improve the interaction between logic synthesis and physical design have been published [2,9,11,[14][15][16].…”

“…Additionally, after each transformation a legalization step is necessary to correct the layout. For this legalization step ECO-algorithms [9] or other placement improvement algorithms [15] are used.…”