Cell library development using multi-objective function optimization

The necessity of good cell libraries, optimized both for low-power and delay is a constraint that shows up in high performance IC design. Additionally modularity is demanded to adapt the library to the changing target, circuit modeling and design tools: this gives the possibility to optimize on-the-fly the library cells according to changes in the high level of the design flow and in the designer's need. This paper presents a fast design methodology able to produce an optimized low-power cell library, and to optimize a cell with respect to several conjunct targets. Finally, an automatic tool is presented that performs the optimization of cells, given the optimizing constraints.