An Open Architecture for Improving VLSI Circuit Performance

Electrical performance and area improvement are important parts of the overall integrated circuit design task. However, few design tools allow easy exploration of the design space (area, delay, and power) or offer designers different performance alternatives. Given designer specified constraints on area, delay, and power, EPOXY will size a circuit''s transistors and will attempt small circuit changes to help meet the constraints. The system provides an open flexible framework for developing and evaluating the effects of different area and electrical models, optimization algorithms, and circuit modifications.