VLSI Physical Design with Timing Analysis

Lecture – 26: Floorplanning Algorithms

Bishnu Prasad Das

Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering

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 Contents
• Floorplanning algorithms
• Floorplan Sizing

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 Floorplanning Algorithms
• Floorplan sizing – determines the minimum area of the floorplan and
associated orientations and dimensions of each block.
• Cluster growth and simulated annealing comprehend the netlist of
interconnections between blocks.
• Minimize the total length of interconnect, subject to
an upper bound on the floorplan area
• Jointly optimize wirelength and area

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 Floorplan sizing
• Floorplan sizing finds

– the dimensions of the minimum-area floorplan and

– the corresponding dimensions of the individual blocks.

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 Floorplan sizing
• The algorithm uses the shapes of both the individual blocks and
the top-level floorplan to find a minimum area floorplan.

• So, shape functions and corner points (limits) play a major role in
determining an optimal floorplan.

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 Shape functions and Corner points
• Consider a block block with area area(block). By definition, if a
block has width wblock and height hblock, then

wblock * hblock ≥ area(block)

or

Shape Function area(block)

hblock(w) =
w

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 Shape functions and Corner points

In the case of shape functions, wblock, hblock , area(block)

are positive. So we’ll consider only 1st Quadrant.
x

xy = constant(positive)

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 Shape functions and Corner points

h
Legal shapes
wblock * hblock ≥ area(block) i.e.,
Only the values of h and w that give h*y > area(block) are legal
→ All the values that are above the curve are legal

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 Shape functions and Corner points
• Shape functions can also include lower bounds on the block’s
width LB(wblock) and height LB(hblock).
h
Legal shapes

LB(hblock)

LB(wblock) w
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 Shape functions and Corner points
• Shape functions can also include lower bounds on the block’s
width LB(wblock) and height LB(hblock).
h
Legal shapes

LB(hblock)

LB(wblock) w
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 Shape functions and Corner points
• Due to technology-dependent design rules, (h,w) pairs can be
restricted to discrete values.
h

w
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 Shape functions and Corner points
• Shape function of a possible hard library block, where its
orientation can be more restricted.
h

w
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 Shape functions and Corner points
• The discrete dimensions of the block can be thought of as non-
dominated corner points that limit the shape function.
h

3
3
corner points 1

1 1
3
1 3 w

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 Minimum area floorplan
• Floorplan sizing consists of three major steps:
1. Construct the shape functions of all individual blocks.
2. Determine the shape function of the top-level floorplan from the shape
functions of the individual blocks using a bottom-up strategy.
3. From the corner point that corresponds to the minimum top-level
floorplan area, trace in a top-down fashion back to
each block’s shape function to find that block’s
dimensions and location.

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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
• Given: two blocks, a and b.
3 1
– a: wa = 1, ha = 3 or wa = 3, ha = 1 1 a
3 a
– b: wb = 2, hb = 4 or wb = 4, hb = 2
4 2

2 b
4 b

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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
• Task: find the minimum-area floorplan F using both horizontal and
vertical composition and its corresponding slicing tree.

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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
7 3
6 1 a
5
4
3
2
1
ha(w) ⇒ for block a
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
1
7 3
6
3 a
5
4
3
2
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
7
6
5
4
3
2
ha(w)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
4
7
6 2 b
5
4
3
2
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
4
7
6 2 b
5
4
3
2
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
7
6
5
4
3
hb(w)
2
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
1. Construct the shape functions of the blocks
h
7
6
5
4
3
hb(w)
2
ha(w)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
2. Vertical composition: determine the shape function hF(w) of F
h
7 3+4=7
6
5 1+4=5
4
3 1+2=3
hb(w)
2
ha(w)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example 3
3. Find the dimensions and locations of blocks a and b.
a
h a
7 a 3
b 5
6 hF(w) b
5 7 4
4 b 3 × 4 = 12
5 × 3 = 15
3
hb(w)
2
ha(w)
1 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w 7 × 2 = 14

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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
3. Find the dimensions and locations of blocks a and b.
a
h
3
7 b
6 hF(w)
4
5
4 3 × 4 = 12
3
hb(w)
2
ha(w)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
2. Horizontal composition: determine the shape function hF(w) of F
h
7
6
5 hb(w)
4 1+2=3
3 1+4=5
2 3+4=7
ha(w)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
3. Find the dimensions and locations of blocks a and b.
h
7 2 b 4
b a
hF(w) a
6
5 7 3
2 × 7 = 14 3
4
3 × 4 = 12
3
hb(w) a
2
ha(w) b
1
5
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w 3 × 5 = 15
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 Minimum area floorplan – Example
3. Find the dimensions and locations of blocks a and b.
h
7 b 4
a
6 hF(w)
5
3
4
3 × 4 = 12
3
hb(w)
2
ha(w)
1

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 w
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Thank You

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