Synthesis of Finite State Machines: Logic Optimization is the second in a set of two monographs devoted to the synthesis of Finite State Machines (FSMs). The first volume, Synthesis of Finite State Machines: Functional Optimization, addresses functional optimization, whereas this one addresses logic optimization. The result of functional optimization is a symbolic description of an FSM which represents a sequential function chosen from a collection of permissible candidates. Logic optimization is the body of techniques for converting a symbolic description of an...

This book was motivated by the problems being faced with shrinking IC process feature sizes. It is well known that as process feature sizes shrink, a host of electrical problems like cross-talk, electromigration, self-heat, etc. are becoming important. Cross-talk is one of the major problems since it results in unpredictable design behavior. In particular, it can result in significant delay variation or signal integrity problems in a wire, depending on the state of its neighboring wires. Typical approaches to tackle the cross-talk problem attempt to fix the problem once it is created. In our...

Short turnaround has become critical in the design of electronic systems. Software- programmable components such as microprocessors and digital signal processors have been used extensively in such systems since they allow rapid design revisions. However, the inherent performance limitations of software-programmable systems mean that they are inadequate for high-performance designs. Designers thus turned to gate arrays as a solution. User-programmable gate arrays (field-programmable gate arrays, FPGAs) have recently emerged and are changing the way electronic systems are designed and...

Timing research in high performance VLSI systems has advanced at a steady pace over the last few years, while tools, especially theoretical mechanisms, lag behind. Much present timing research relies heavily on timing diagrams, which, although intuitive, are inadequate for analysis of large designs with many parameters. Further, timing diagrams offer only approximations, not exact solutions, to many timing problems and provide little insight in the cases where temporal properties of a design interact intricately with the design's logical functionalities. This book presents a methodology for...

The roots of the project which culminates with the writing of this book can be traced to the work on logic synthesis started in 1979 at the IBM Watson Research Center and at University of California, Berkeley. During the preliminary phases of these projects, the impor- tance of logic minimization for the synthesis of area and performance effective circuits clearly emerged. In 1980, Richard Newton stirred our interest by pointing out new heuristic algorithms for two-level logic minimization and the potential for improving upon existing approaches. In the summer of 1981, the authors organized...

This book is an extension of one author's doctoral thesis on the false path problem. The work was begun with the idea of systematizing the various solutions to the false path problem that had been proposed in the literature, with a view to determining the computational expense of each versus the gain in accuracy. However, it became clear that some of the proposed approaches in the literature were wrong in that they under- estimated the critical delay of some circuits under reasonable conditions. Further, some other approaches were vague and so of questionable accu- racy. The focus of the...

Regular Fabrics in Deep Sub-Micron Integrated-Circuit Design discusses new approaches to better timing-closure and manufacturability of DSM Integrated Circuits. The key idea presented is the use of regular circuit and interconnect structures such that area/delay can be predicted with high accuracy. The co-design of structures and algorithms allows great opportunities for achieving better final results, thus closing the gap between IC and CAD designers. The regularities also provide simpler and possibly better manufacturability.
In this book we present not only algorithms...