A 3-D global routing technique for routability assessment

This paper concerns a problem of layout generation in the 3-D space model where modules to be interconnected and all interconnections are treated as 3-D objects. A placement of modules will not be usable if it does not allow the routing procedure to complete all the required interconnections. This paper presents a global routing technique which attempts to route along a highly routable path in a 3-D placement. Assuming the use of a minimum Steiner tree algorithm which runs in O(n/sup 2/), where n is the number of interconnected vertices, the running time of the global routing process is O(n/sup 2/) for each net. Thus its efficiency supports its integration with an iterative placement technique.