A Survey of Hardware Accelerators Used in Computer-Aided Design

Hardware accelerators, or special-purpose engines, have been used in computer-aided design applications for nearly 20 years. In this time, roughly 20 machines have been built and tested specifically for such purposes as simulation, design rule checking, placement, and routing. Their uses are increasing, and the machines are becoming commercially available. This survey describes not only the machines but also their problems and limitations. It also gives comparative data on speed-up techniques and performance. Examples include a simulation machine that achieves roughly a million-times speed-up over a conventional 1-MIP mainframe and a very low cost machine for design rule checking that provides a 100-times improvement. These and other examples clearly demonstrate the viability of special-purpose engines.