A GRASP Algorithm for Multi-objective Circuit Partitioning

Circuit partitioning plays a crucial role in very large-scale integrated circuit (VLSI) physical design automation. With current trends, partitioning with multiple objectives which includes cutsize, area, delay, and power obtains much concentration. In this paper, a multi-objective greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP) is presented for simultaneous cutsize and circuit delay minimization. Each objective is assigned a preference or weight to direct the search procedure and generate a variety of efficient solutions by changing the preference. To get a good initial partition with minimal cutsize and circuit delay, the gain of each module in a circuit is computed by considering both signal nets and circuit delay. The performance of the proposed algorithm is evaluated on a standard set of partitioning benchmark. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm can generate a set of Pareto optimal solutions and is efficient for tackling multi-objective circuit partitioning.