Routing using implicit connection graphs [VLSI design]

We introduce a framework for a class of algorithms solving shortest path related problems, such as the one-to-one shortest path problem, the one-to-many shortest paths problem and the minimum spanning tree problem, in the presence of obstacles. For these algorithms, the search space is restricted to a sparse strong connection graph which is implicitly represented and its searched portion is constructed incrementally on-the-fly during search. The time and space requirements of these algorithms essentially depend on actual search behavior. These algorithms are suitable for large VLSI design applications with many obstacles.