ASIC Physical Design : Key challenges and Innovative solutions

 In Previous post, I have explained the importance of Logical synthesis. If you have not explored it, Please click below link to check it: Synthesis : The Soul of Physical Design In this post, Lets understand Practical significance of Physical synthesis. will understand each aspects of physical synthesis in comparison with Physical synthesis. Physical aware Synthesis As Synthesis(logic Synthesis) is Soul of Physical design and bridges gap between RTL and Physical implementation, Physical Synthesis bridges gap between Logical Synthesis and physical implementation.  Regular Physical Synthesis Flow: This is two step process. first logical synthesis is performed and using this synthesized netlist, Floorplan and macro/port placement is done. after Power-plan, DEF file is generated which contains Floorplan information and Macro/port placement along with PG grid. along with DEF file, other physical inputs are provided for Physical synthesis. output of Physical synthesis is synthesize...

 ASIC Physical Design consists of various stages. each with its own critical importance and significance. quality of each stage directly impacts the subsequent stages, Hence it is really important to ensure the high quality execution of initial stages to achieve efficient  and effective physical design implementation. In this post, will discuss detail significance about "Synthesis". Synthesis : The Soul of Physical Design Synthesis can be considered as "The Soul" of Physical Design. Synthesis serves as critical bridge between high level design abstract(RTL) and Physical design implementation. Below are few points makes Synthesis as "Heart" of Physical design. Translation of RTL into technology depended gate-level netlist :  as ASIC is Technology depended (90nm,65nm,28nm...) and RTL(register transfer logic) is technology independent , Synthesis is the first stage where RTL is converted to technology depended.  Optimization : During Synthesis, Design is opt...