The MCG autorouter for multichip modules

A multilayer, multichip module (MCM) router, called MCG, is introduced for x-y routing. An efficient method has been derived to allow candidate routes for the nets to be considered simultaneously for compatibility, rather than incrementally extending routes or routing one net at a time, as in many other techniques, and thus allowing incorporation of accurate models for determining the potential for crosstalk and delay problems during the routing process. In comparisons with other routers on industrial benchmarks, the MCG router has shown substantial improvement in routing density, number of layers, number of vias, and total interconnect length over routers such as V4R and SLICE. Our test results show up to 18% improvement in via count and up to 33% improvement in the required number of routing layers for these examples over V4R. One of the benchmarks presented contains 37 VHSIC gate arrays, over 7000 nets, and over 14000 pins (pads).