Provably good algorithms for performance-driven global routing

The authors propose a provably good performance-driven global routing algorithm for both cell-based and building block design. The approach is based on a new bounded-radius minimum routing free formulation, which simultaneously minimizes both routing cost and the longest interconnection path, so that both are bounded by small constant factors away from optimal. The authors' method generalizes to Steiner global routing in arbitrary weighted graphs, and to the case where varying wirelength bounds are prescribed for different source-sink paths. Extensive simulations confirmed that the approach gave very good performance, and exhibited a smooth tradeoff between the competing requirements of minimum delay and minimum total wirelength.<
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