( DAC 99 Item 33 ) ----------------------------------------------- [6/25/99]
"Product: Avant! Jupiter Rating: 2 gators (out of 4)
This is Avant!'s new front-end tool for "physical synthesis" which
is used to do preliminary floorplanning and placement of macros. RTL
can be read into the tool where a "dummy" synthesis is done to
generate size and timing estimates. Blocks not yet available can be
assigned a "black-box" based upon the estimated size of the block.
Rat's Nest type global routes can be done and graphically displayed
to help place blocks. Busses can be defined and manually placed
between blocks. Once a user is satisfied, custom wire-load models
per block can be generated. Timing constraints can be applied and
then written out into a TDF file which is given to the Apollo P&R
tool to chew on for the final layout. I saw some interesting
capability here which might help us achieve timing closure for bigger
designs. However, it appears that we would probably need some
trained experts to help guide us through the tool."
- an anon engineer
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