Abstract
The problem of allocating area to modules at the highest level of a top-down decomposition is treated in this paper. A theorem of Schoenberg is applied to obtain a good embedding of the module space into the plane. The Dutch metric is introduced to transform netlist information - if available - into a distance matrix. This metric is flexible enough to enable the user to steer the design in an interactive environment, and rigorous enough to yield results satisfying optimality criterions. The embedding is used to derive the topology of the floorplan in the form of the structure tree of a slicing structure. To store the partial structure tree during the construction a concise and convenient data structure, the shorthand tree, is introduced. For any aspect ratio of the chip a minimum area floorplan can be generated. The paper also shows how wiring space predictions can be incorporated, how varying degrees of module flexibility can be accounted for, and how fixing bonding pad macros affects the procedure.