Framework of a new methodology for behavioral to physical design linkage [VLSI circuits]

A new framework for enhancing the knowledge-based linkage between behavioral and physical design of VLSI circuits is presented. The framework incorporates new abstractions and metrics that lead to more efficiently defined CAD algorithms by improving the handling of electrical and physical effects which are important in producing efficient layouts. This is accomplished by defining a new behavioral to physical design relationship (linkage) and defining a more useful set of heuristic measures related to electrical characteristics which impact layout. A measure of layout complexity also is derived which can be estimated early in the behavioral modeling process