Design driven partitioning

A new approach for partitioning VLSI digital integrated circuits is presented. In contrast to known approaches, which use only topological information, the presented method also exploits specific information about design modules and higher-level design structure. Based on this knowledge, the design-driven procedure creates a cluster structure that incorporates the inherent design relationships (e.g. signal flow, logic blocks) in the best way possible. Followed by standard iterative improvement algorithms, partitions are produced that outperform many partitioning approaches published before. Because of its linear time complexity, the presented clustering strategy is able to handle very large designs. Due to its modular structure, it can be easily extended to incorporate special design features or target architectures such as emulation systems