Timing-driven routing for symmetrical array-based FPGAs
In this paper we present a timing-driven router for symmetrical array-based FPGAs. The routing resources in the FPGAs consist of segments of various lengths. Researchers have shown that the number of segments, instead of wirelength, used by a net is the most critical factor in controlling routing delay in an FPGA. Thus, the traditional measure of routing delay on the basis of geometric distance of a signal is not accurate. To consider wirelength and delay simultaneously, we study a model of timing-driven routing trees, arising from the special properties of FPGA routing architectures. Based on the solutions to the routing-tree problem, we present a routing algorithm that is able to utilize various routing segments with global considerations to meet timing constraints. Experimental results show that our approach is very effective in reducing timing violations.
computer-aided design of vlsi field programmable gate array layout synthesis