Optimization techniques for cell assembly

This thesis concerns with the development of an automatic cell assembler. Given a floorplan containing leaf or composite cells and the interconnections between them, the assembler generates the optimized layout of the assembled cell. It automatically decides if the terminals on the adjoining cells must be connected either by pitch-matching or by inserting jogged wires. In the first case, the adjoining cells may need to be stretched along some vertical and/or horizontal stretch lines. The assembler computes the effect of stretching on the circuit elements and determines necessary stretch lines without any aid from the designer. In the later case, a 'jog' cell is introduced, dimensions of the cell and its position with respect to the neighboring cells in the floorplan are computed, and the interconnecting wires are routed in the 'jog' cell.