Buffer Chain Management for Routing Congestion Alleviation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional techniques for alleviating routing congestion in integrated circuit designs are inefficient and often result in poor quality results, particularly for large-scale designs, as they fail to effectively manage buffer chains and routing resources.
Innovation Solution
The approach involves identifying buffer chains passing through congested regions, removing them, creating a placement blockage to restrict cell placement, reconstructing the buffer chains within this blockage, and then removing the blockage, or spreading out buffer chains by moving their center of mass lines to alleviate congestion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional techniques are used for placement and routing in large circuit designs, then the existing tools can process the designs, but the computational time becomes excessively long and the quality of results deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the routing problem by identifying congested regions and isolating buffer chains within those regions. By dividing the circuit design into manageable segments (congested vs. non-congested regions), the system can apply different routing strategies to different parts, significantly reducing overall computational time while maintaining quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts buffer chains from congested regions and processes them separately. By taking out the problematic buffer chains and handling them independently through removal, blockage creation, and reconstruction, the system avoids the computational complexity of routing all elements simultaneously, thus reducing total computation time.
2Productivity
If buffer chains are densely packed to optimize routing, then routing resources are utilized efficiently, but routing congestion increases in specific regions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by creating placement blockages specifically in congested regions while allowing normal buffer chain placement in non-congested regions. This localized approach maintains high routing resource utilization overall while preventing congestion in specific problem areas through targeted intervention.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces placement blockages as intermediary structures between buffer chains and routing resources in congested regions. These blockages act as mediators that temporarily prevent direct routing, forcing the system to create alternative paths that reduce congestion while maintaining connectivity.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If buffer chains are removed and reconstructed in congested regions, then routing congestion is reduced, but the complexity of the routing process increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary actions by identifying congested regions and extracting buffer chains before the main routing process. By preparing the circuit design in advance by removing problematic buffer chains and creating placement blockages, the system simplifies the subsequent routing process rather than increasing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of trying to route buffer chains through congested regions directly (the conventional approach), the patent inverts the problem by removing the buffer chains and creating blockages first, then reconstructing them in a simplified manner. This inversion transforms a complex routing problem into a simpler reconstruction problem.
Data Source
AI summary
Systems and techniques for alleviating congestion are described. A set of buffer chains that pass through a congested region of the circuit design can be identified. Next, the set of the buffer chains can be removed from the circuit design. A placement blockage in the circuit design can then be created that covers at least a portion of the congested region. Next, the buffer chains that were removed can be reconstructed in the circuit design in the presence of the placement blockage, thereby alleviating congestion. Once the buffer chains have been reconstructed, the placement blockage can be removed from the circuit design. In some embodiments, congestion can be alleviated by spreading out buffer chains based on spreading out center of mass lines corresponding to the buffer chains.