Early exploration of the multi-dimensional VLSI design space

The design space for VLSI circuits and systems is multidimensional since area, delay, power, design time, throughput, etc. are factors affecting the designer's choice of an optimum implementation. Presently, most designers lack the resources or tools to consider simultaneously more than two of these dimensions (e.g. area and delay). In this paper, a new approach is presented which facilitates the simultaneous consideration of multiple dimensions to increase the likelihood of finding a globally optimum solution. Furthermore, the new approach enables the designer to explore a larger number of candidate solutions and to prune the design space before pursuing more detailed implementations. A formal definition of the new approach is given along with several examples that depict its strength in assisting VLSI designers.<
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