Pin assignment with global routing

Jason Cong

Abstract: An algorithm is presented which combines the pin assignment step and the global routing step in the physical design of VLSI circuits. The algorithm is based on two key theorems: the channel pin arrangement theorem and the finite interval decomposition theorem. These two theorems enable the author to deal successfully with the high complexity resulting from combining the pin assignment and global routing steps. According to these two theorems, the author need only generate a coarse pin assignment and global routing topology. The exact pin locations and global solution can later be determined optimally and by a linear time algorithm. The author implemented a pin assignment and global routing package named BeauticianGR based on the proposed algorithm.<