ASIC Physical Design : Key challenges and Innovative solutions

In the intricate world of Physical Design, placement and routing blockages often emerge as critical challenges as it can significantly impact the  quality of the design flow. These blockages, whether intentional or unintentional, play a pivotal role in defining the physical layout of a chip, influencing everything from timing closure to power distribution. Understanding how to effectively manage and strategize around these blockages is essential for achieving optimal design outcomes. In this blog, we will explore practical strategies and best practices to navigate placement and routing blockages, ensuring a smoother and more efficient design process while maintaining the integrity of the final product. Placement blockages Placement blockages are specific locations where placement of stdcell is restricted.  Placement Blockages are not guide to tool but it doesn't allow  PNR tools to place stdcell in given area.  By carefully managing placement blockages, designers can...

 Hi All, Refer below image. all the dimensions are illustrated using ruler. What will be track_offset for given layer track showed in image? Type your answer in comment box.

 As per regular ASIC flow, Floorplan stage is referred as first stage of Physical Design (for advanced node considering Physical Synthesis, Physical Synthesis is first ...!!!). Floorplan is art of Physical design as mostly referred as  critical stage as quality of chip depends on how good is floorplan. If proper care is taken while doing floorplan, critical issues of subsequent stages can be reduced such as timing/congestion/EMIR/PDV related issues. Lets try to understand step by step process involved during Floorplan. 1. Die area estimation For larger SOCs, FullChip die area is decided in two stages:(below steps are iterative process until PPA is meet for chip. Top-down approach :  Initial die area is estimated based on hierarchy or sub-blocks of whole design. Once initial required area is identified, sub blocks are placed as per hierarchy grouping based on high level dataflow of design architecture. Once all sub-blocks are placed properly  within estimated die area...