An Extensible Object-Oriented Approach to Databases for VLSI/CAD

This paper describes an approach to the specification and modeling of information associated with the design and evolution of VLSI components. The approach is characterized by combined structural and behavioral descriptions of a component. Database modeling requirements specific to the VLSI design domain are considered and techniques t.o address them are described. An extensible object-oriented information management framework, the 3DIS (3 Dimensional Information Space), is presented. The framework has been adapted to capture the underlying semantics of the application environment by the addition of new abstraction primitives. An example 3DIS database for a VLSI design system is presented.