Second: A VLSI Function Library Compiler

Current silicon compilers are useful to integrated systems designers who wish to produce working silicon in short timescales. However users are restricted by the technological and functional limitations of the underlying hardware library. Progress is reported in a structural silicon compiler, SECOND, which is intended to impart functional flexibility and process-portability to cell-libraries. Through the automatic generation of layout from logical descriptions, cell-libraries may be maintained in process-independent form, and incorporate not only new components, but also new processes with ease.