15 . 0 Custom Integrated Circuits Academic and Research Staff

The overall goal of VLSI CAD research is to provide the means to produce custom integrated circuits correctly, quickly, and economically. In the past, correctness applied only to the desired function, but there is increasing need to design to a performance specification, expressed in terms of speed, circuit area, and power. In this research group, the main emphasis is on CAD tools for performance-directed synthesis, with particular emphasis on digital signal processing applications. This goal implies the development of algorithms for optimizing performance of the total design. These complete designs, however, are specified at several levels of abstraction, ranging from function through architecture, logic, circuit, and layout. Traditionally, optimization techniques have been applied within a single such abstraction, but total optimization implies the simultaneous specification of all levels of representation such that the desired performance goal is realized. To facilitate this process, each such representation must be constructed so that optimization algorithms can be effectively designed, often utilizing well-understood methods. Furthermore, these representations must be coordinated so that each represents a projection of a single overall design. This "consistency" requirement guarantees that the distinct levels of abstraction can all be regarded as views of one abstract underlying design object.