Timing-driven bipartitioning with replication using iterative quadratic programming

We present an algorithm for solving a general min-cut, two-way partitioning problem subject to timing constraints. The problem is formulated as a constrained programming problem and solved in two phases: cut-set minimization and timing satisfaction. A mathematical programming technique based on iterative quadratic programming (TPIQ) is used to find an approximate solution to the constrained problem. When the timing constraints are too strict to have a feasible solution, node replication is used to satisfy the constraints. Experimental results on the ISCAS89 benchmark suite show that TPIQ can solve the timing-driven bipartitioning problem with little impact on the chip size.