An Automatic Rectilinear Partitioning Procedure for Standard Cells

This paper describes a new approach to automatically partition and place the standard cells in a rectilinear area on a chip among the pre-placed macro cells (RAM, ROM, PLA etc.) and I/O pads. The macro cells may be placed anywhere on the chip. The topological and physical constraints, and the net list connectivity are accounted for simultaneously. This procedure has been implemented in the AT&T Bell Laboratories LTX2 chip layout system.