Application of hybrid evolutionary partitioning algorithm for heat transfer enhancement in VLSI circuits

In the paper, a new approach to improving the heat transfer in integrated circuits (ICs) is presented. It is based on improving the thermal conductivity of ICs by increasing the number of their external connections up to the level determined by the packaging standards. To achieve this, a new hybrid evolutionary partitioning algorithm (HEPA) for circuit partitioning is introduced. The experimental results show that HEPA is able to reach optimal solutions in the case of bipartitioning problem, and almost optimal in the case of k-way partitioning (k>2). The presented approach is especially dedicated for multichip modules and flip chip interconnect technologies which are used in contemporary ICs.