Power-Aware Slack Distribution for Hierarchical

Hierarchical design plays an important role in mi- croprocessor and ASIC domains where design complexity limits design productivity and tool capacity. Slack distribution, which assigns arrival times and required arrival times at hierarchical boundaries, is a key component in resolving timing issues. In this paper, we present a new slack distribution methodology targeting power minimization. The approach is formulated as a nonlinear optimization problem, which can be solved very efficiently. Experiments with example designs show that up to 14% power can be saved with the proposed methodology. I. INTRODUCTION