Abstract: System and method of automatically performing repeater insertions in physical design of an integrated circuit. Repeaters are inserted in interconnects in a staggered fashion and spaced apart to accommodate potential flip-flop insertions. The sufficient spacing between the repeaters in combination with the staggered pattern ensures that flip-flop insertions can be performed at any of the repeater locations without space limitation. When rerouting is needed following a flip-flop insertion on an interconnect, automatic rerouting is performed but restricted to a short and specified region along the interconnect. Thereby, the resulted alteration from the current routing configuration is minimal and deterministic.

Abstract: System and method of automatically performing flip-flop insertions for each net in a logic interface by using the RTL-estimated maximum count as a limit. Based on the timing analysis on the physical layout, a flip-flop insertion count needed for each net is derived and candidate locations for insertions are automatically detected. A set of constraints is applied to identify ineligible locations for flip-flop insertions. If more flip-flop insertions than the count limit are needed to satisfy the timing requirements for a net, timing-related variables are iteratively adjusted using the current layout until the timing requirements can be satisfied using the RTL count limit. If all the nets in the interface need fewer flip-flop insertions than the RTL count limit, the information can be fed back to update the RTL count limit. Each net is then parsed and flip-flops are inserted at appropriated locations.

Abstract: System and method of checking logic equivalence following flip-flop insertions to identify paths with inversion errors. All the flip-flops in a gate-level netlist and the corresponding RTL design are treated as buffers in a logic equivalence check (LEC) tool. A logic mismatch of a path between the RTL design and the netlist indicates an odd number of inverters have been inserted in the path during a flip-flop insertion process. Accordingly, the identified path is adjusted to ensure an even number of inverters.