Flow engineering for physical implementation: Theory and practice

Two consultants, each with over twenty years of experience designing integrated circuits at a variety of companies large and small, are fed up with the imperfect flows typically used by their clients. Drawing on a career's worth of mistakes knowledge, they present a set of coherent engineering principles for building a better flow infrastructure.

1. INTRODUCTION

The design and implementation of integrated circuits requires the use of many sophisticated and expensive software tools. Methodologies for the successful use of these tools are a common research topic in academia and industry. A variety of papers, proceedings, manuals, and online discussions provide information and guidance to the user community.