Network partitioning into tree hierarchies

This paper addresses the problem of partitioning a circuit into a tree hierarchy with an objective of minimizing a global interconnection cost. An efficient and effective algorithm is necessary when the circuit is huge and the tree has many levels of hierarchy. We propose a heuristic algorithm for improving a partition with respect to a given tree structure. The algorithm utilizes the tree hierarchy as an efficient mechanism for iterative improvement. We also extend the tree hierarchy to apply a multi-phase partitioning approach. Experimental results show that the algorithm significantly improves the initial partitions produced by multiway partitioning and by recursive partitioning.