Complexities of digital systems have been multiplying at great speeds. What began as paper and pencil design of few circuits has now grown into sophisticated design entry, verification, and automatic design generation tools. It has become a basic stride for mankind to develop faster and better microprocessors. Typically a VLSI chip has an area of about 1cm sq. The figure below shows typical process stages for the design of digital ICs.
Simulation involves synthesis, timing, testing and floor planning.
Behavior and structure are the two properties that define any system. Initially the behavioral pattern of the system under design is generated. This pattern is usually in the form of a graph. In the general case, the components act as nodes and the lines carrying the information or signals are represented by edges. If the components are interpreted as edges and the signals as nodes, a Signal Graph is obtained.