Early exploration of the multi-dimensional VLSI design space

The design space for VLSI circuits and systems is multidimensional since area, delay, power, design time, throughput, etc. are factors affecting the designer´s choice of an optimum implementation. Presently, most designers lack the resources or tools to consider simultaneously more than two of these dimensions (e.g. area and delay). In this paper, a new approach is presented which facilitates the simultaneous consideration of multiple dimensions to increase the likelihood of finding a globally optimum solution. Furthermore, the new approach enables the designer to explore a larger number of candidate solutions and to prune the design space before pursuing more detailed implementations. A formal definition of the new approach is given along with several examples that depict its strength in assisting VLSI designers