P.SIZE: A Sizing aid for Optimized Designs

Abstract : Transistor sizing at layout level is necessary to improve the overall performance of integrated circuits. The authors present the definition and the validation of a sizing aid, P.Size, integrated in a flexible cell generator. Based on a local optimization defined through an explicit formulation of delays, this sizing aid can be used to optimize real data paths, under constraint, with few CPU time requirements. Validations, through comparison with a mathematical optimization procedure and an industrial optimizer, are given.