Optimization by simulated evolution with applications to standard cell placement

This paper presents a mathematical formulation of the Simulated Evolution algorithm, a novel optimization technique, followed by a thorough analysis of the associated Markovchain model. We show that the algorithm will reach a global minimum with probability one, and also introduce a novel hierarchical placement technique. Finally, we describe a Standard Cell placement program based on the new approach whose preliminary results are comparable to the best Simulated Annealing algorithms.