August 22, 2012

Routing: Basics

Routing process determines the precise paths for nets on the chip layout to interconnect the pins on the circuit blocks. Before discussing further, it would be prudent to discuss where does Routing actually fit in the Physical Design flow.

After Synthesis (the conversion of RTL to gate-level netlist), the blocks and the instances are Placed, which, to some extent, is governed by the Floorplan. After Placement, Clock Tree is synthesized followed by Routing of the signal nets. The following flow chart summarizes the Physical Design Flow.



Objectives of the Routing Process:
  • To determine the necessary wiring, e.g., net topologies and specific routing segments, to connect these cells while respecting constraints like design rules.
  • To Optimize routing objectives, e.g., minimizing total wire length and maximizing timing slack.

Routing is further divided into many subtypes:
  • Global Routing: It defines the routing regions and generates a tentative route for each net. Each net is assigned to a set of routing regions. However, it does not specify the actual layout of wires and it not sensitive to DRV violations.
  • Detailed Routing: For each routing region (defined during Global Routing), each net passing through that region is assigned to particular routing tracks. The actual layout of wires is specified. It also tries to fix all DRV violations in the design.

9 comments:

  1. Can u shed some more info on routing tracks, global and detailed routing?

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  2. can you provide more info on routing pls?

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    Replies
    1. Could you please tell in brief what exactly you would like me to write about?

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    2. Synopsys standard 4 stages of routing will be good

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  3. This comment has been removed by the author.

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    Replies
    1. can u post about routing grids, types of grids, on what basis regions are divided in GR? and how exactly routing takes place in DR.

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  4. thanks for sharing !!! a realy great blog

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  5. a really great blog!! thanks for sharing

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