Congestion Hotspots Identification and Mitigation Suggestions Through Design File

To enhance Quality of Results (QoR) in addressing congestion hotspots, a design-specific solution is crucial. Current existing methods are generic in nature and may be pessimistic, resulting in suboptimal designs. Design-specific solutions, such as spreading pins or cells, moving IPs, and adjusting placement blockages, offer targeted improvements. The proposed method involves identifying congestion hotspots through a utility analyzing the design details from a Design File (DF). Once identified, the utility suggests solutions to mitigate the hotspot, saving time and avoiding sign-off check failures in noise, slew, and signal electromigration. Experiments were run on various test cases, featuring congestion hotspots due to high pin density and cell density, and successful implementation of the suggested solutions resulted in maximum 9.1% congestion reduction.