ACORN: A Local Customization Approach to DCVS Physical Design

Differential cascode voltage switch (DCVS) trees are high performance, high functionality CMOS circuits, which, because they have a large number of inputs and internal connections, are difficult to wire on a large scale. Wirability is substantially improved by local customization at the tree level. This paper describes a DCVS customization procedure that exploits the fact that a Boolean function has more than one physical realization. Using ACORN, an automated physical design system based on this concept, we have placed and wired several designs, the largest of which is a group of three interconnected macros comprising approximately 800 DCVS trees.