An Automatic/Interactive Layout Planning System for Arbitrarily-Sized Rectangular Building Blocks

Layout Planning Aids (LPA) is designed to allow easy generation of topological layout (chip) plans for IC mask designs. The output of LPA is a hard-copy topological plan. The system encourages a hierarchical design style. It encompasses both algorithmic and computer-assisted, designer-controlled approaches to the problem by providing automatic placement and routing facilities plus a set of versatile interactive commands. The interactive features allow designers to work collaboratively with the system such that the strengths of both can be combined to achieve the best results.