Physical Design Variation in Relative Timed Asynchronous Circuits

Abstract

Variations in integrated circuits stem from multiple sources. This paper studies variations in placement and delay that occur when using commercial EDA in a relatively unsupported fashion – to implement large unclocked circuits. A tool suite is built to study placed and routed designs. Significant variations in physical placement is shown, leading to degradation in performance, power efficiency, and robustness. An experimental method of mitigating timing and placement variation using relative place directives is applied, resulting in circuits that are 7% faster and 4% lower power.