A* is Born: Efficient and Scalable Physical Design for Field-coupled Nanocomputing

Field-coupled Nanocomputing (FCN) has emerged as a promising alternative to traditional CMOS technology, driven by recent advancements in atomic-scale logic gate fabrication and simulation. However, the efficient placement and routing of logic functions remain significant challenges, with existing algorithms lacking scalability or quality. In this paper, we present a novel method aimed at addressing these challenges by focusing on the generation of layouts with outstanding quality in a fraction of the time compared to existing approaches. Through extensive experimentation, we demonstrate that our method significantly reduces area overhead, outperforming two state-of-the-art heuristics by more than 70% and 24 %, respectively, while achieving these results at a remarkable 460 times faster pace compared to the latter. Furthermore, we contribute to open science by releasing our algorithm as an open-source implementation, fostering collaboration and further advancements in the field of FCN.