Integrated Circuit

The layout of integrated circuits on chips and boards is a complex task. A major portion of the research in the area of design automation has been devoted to the development of efficient and easy-to-use systems that support circuit layout. There are two aspects of building a layout system that are difficult. One is the combinatorial aspect and the other is the systems aspect. The combinatorial aspect is that most of the optimization problems that have to be solved during integrated-circuit layout are intractable.

Regular Fabrics in Deep Sub-Micron Integrated-Circuit Design discusses new approaches to better timing-closure and manufacturability of DSM Integrated Circuits. The key idea presented is the use of regular circuit and interconnect structures such that area/delay can be predicted with high accuracy.