Research in Physical Design of VLSI Circuits

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The principal investigator will do research on VLSI design models and methodologies. In the direction of modeling, he will find models that describe accurately the constraints and requirements of the physical design process. In the direction of methodologies, he will apply algorithmic techniques to design automation problems, which are mathematical and formal, so that they can be evaluated and analyzed prior to experimentation. Professor Liu will concentrate on these topics: (1) two-dimensional approaches to the layout problem; (2) the extension of floorplanning techniques to non-slicing modules and L- shaped structures; and (3) the investigation of algorithms that might profit from parallel computation, e.g. simultaneous global routing. This research addresses the need to produce rapidly layouts of very and ultra large-scale integrated (VLSI/ULSI) circuits which operate efficiently. It is a need that has become of paramount importance as such devices become more complex and the industry increasingly competitive. There are many approaches to problems in VLSI/ULSI design; however they suffer from one of two problems. Either the design methods are heuristic and can fail unexpectedly because analysis methods are not well developed; or formal algorithms, which are well understood, take too much time when very large circuits are involved. The basic need is for more realistic and sophisticated models of computation and new analysis methods that will lead to efficient VLSI/ULSI design methods. Professor Liu proposes to solve research problems in VLSI theory (e.g. floorplanning, routing and parallel design techniques) and put the solutions in software form to further study them. The principal investigator has, in the past several years, turned his attention to VLSI, where he has made important contributions to theory while keeping practical problems in mind.