Variations on a Connectivity-based Legalizer for Standard Cell Design

Abstract

Legalization is considered the most significant step in a placement correlated standard cell design flow as moving cells towards legal positions to avoid overlap among them may escalate the overall wire length. Monolithic legalizers, that is i.e., legalizers that do not partake in global placement, should take into account the connectivity between cells, in order to generate a final result with the minimum quality loss. In this paper we present a set of variations on a connectivity-based legalization scheme, that produce notable results, based on minor modifications that target total interconnection wire length and the design specifications concerning density limitations. © 2021 IEEE