Dr. CU

Dr. CU is a VLSI detailed routing tool developed by the research team supervised by Prof. Evangeline F.Y. Young in The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Different from global routing, detailed routing takes care of many detailed design rules and is performed on a significantly larger routing grid graph. In advanced technology nodes, it becomes the most complicated and time-consuming stage in the VLSI physical design flow. To tackle the challenges, we design and implement several efficient and effective data structures and algorithms under a holistic framework:

• A set of two-level sparse data structures
• An optimal correct-by-construction path search
• An efficient bulk synchronous parallel scheme
• ...

More details are in the following papers:

• Gengjie Chen, Chak-Wa Pui, Haocheng Li, Jingsong Chen, Bentian Jiang, and Evangeline F.Y. Young, "Detailed Routing by Sparse Grid Graph and Minimum-Area-Captured Path Search", IEEE/ACM Asia and South Pacific Design Automation Conference (ASPDAC), Tokyo, Japan, Jan 21-24, 2019.
• Gengjie Chen, Chak-Wa Pui, Haocheng Li, and Evangeline F.Y. Young, "Dr. CU: Detailed Routing by Sparse Grid Graph and Minimum-Area-Captured Path Search", IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems (TCAD), vol. 39, no. 9, pp. 1902–1915, 2020.
• Haocheng Li, Gengjie Chen, Bentian Jiang, Jingsong Chen, and Evangeline F.Y. Young, "Dr. CU 2.0: A Scalable Detailed Routing Framework with Correct-by-Construction Design Rule Satisfaction", IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD), Westminster, CO, USA, Nov 4-7, 2019.

(Dr. CU supports ISPD'18 benchmarks and ISPD'19 benchmarks. This version of code is consistent with the ICCAD paper.)

1. How to Build

Step 1: Download the source code. For example,

$ git clone https://github.com/cuhk-eda/dr-cu

Step 2: Go to the project root and build by

$ cd dr-cu
$ scripts/build.py -o release

Note that this will generate two folders under the root, build and run (build contains intermediate files for build/compilation, while run contains binaries and auxiliary files). More details are in scripts/build.py.

1.1. Dependencies

• GCC (version >= 5.5.0) or other working c++ compliers
• CMake (version >= 2.8)
• Boost (version >= 1.58)
• Python (version 3, optional, for utility scripts)
• Innovus® (version 17.1, optional, for design rule checking and evaluation)
• Rsyn (a trimmed version is used, already added under folder rsyn)

2. How to Run

2.1. Toy Test

Run Binary Directly

Go to the run directory and run the binary ispd18dr with a toy case ispd18_sample:

$ cd run
$ ./ispd18dr -lef ../toys/ispd18_sample/ispd18_sample.input.lef -def ../toys/ispd18_sample/ispd18_sample.input.def -guide ../toys/ispd18_sample/ispd18_sample.in
put.guide -output ispd18_sample.solution.def -threads 8

Run with a Wrapping Script

Instead of running the binary directly, you may also use a wrapping script run.py to save typing and do more:

$ cd run
$ ./run.py 8s -p ../toys/

If Innovus® has been properly installed in your OS, an evaluation can be launched by

$ ./run.py 8s -s eval -p ../toys/

In the end, a result table will be printed in the terminal.

Furthermore, the solution can be visualized by

$ ./run.py 8s -s view -p ../toys/

which gives:

The three steps, route, eval and view of run.py can also be invoked in a single line:

$ ./run.py 8s -s route eval view -p ../toys/

More usage about run.py can be known by the option -h.

2.2. Batch Test

The benchmarks can be downloaded from the hompage of ISPD'18 Contest . You may let run.py know the benchmark path by setting OS environmental variable BENCHMARK_PATH or specifying it under option -p. Then,

$ cd run
$ ./run.py <benchmark_name...|all> -s route eval [option...]

3. Modules

• ispd18eval: scripts and other files for evaluation, provided by ISPD'18 Contest
• ispd19eval: scripts and other files for evaluation, provided by ISPD'19 Contest
• rsyn: code from Rsyn for file IO
• scripts: utility python scripts
• src: C++ source code
  • db: database, including the global grid graph and the net information
  • single_net: routing a single net, including querying the global grid graph, building the local grid graph, running maze routing, and some post processing
  • multi_net: routing all nets with "rip-up and rereoute" and multithreading
  • utils: some utility code
• toys: toy test cases

4. Results

Experiments are performed on a 64-bit Linux workstation with Intel Xeon Silver 4114 CPU (2.20GHz, 40 cores) and 256GB memory. Consistent with the contest, eight threads are used.

design	WL	#sv	og WL	og #v	ot WL	ot #v	ww WL	#short	short a	#min a	#prl	#eol	#cut	#adj	#cnr	#spc	#o	total score	mem (GB)	time (s)
ispd18_test1	433546.30	32402	2178.88	443	414.10	0	5832.07	N/A	0.11	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	2	0	291291	0.38	14
ispd18_test2	7832686.75	325684	41335.35	6542	5292.68	0	54137.45	N/A	0.12	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	57	0	4700934	1.83	124
ispd18_test3	8717807.31	318309	74908.60	6636	5941.85	0	60458.50	N/A	222.50	0	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	94	0	5298745	1.99	205
ispd18_test4	26420290.64	729312	378137.43	29895	17444.76	0	205213.27	N/A	245.33	93	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	593	0	15756404	9.47	1200
ispd18_test5	27801300.46	965544	150150.75	21868	5826.66	3	77342.76	N/A	62.45	141	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	362	0	16366743	7.06	637
ispd18_test6	35703509.13	1480617	243107.40	36581	16482.90	16	119011.40	N/A	14.40	265	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	542	0	21630646	6.58	710
ispd18_test7	65173410.39	2402543	403550.30	55532	32564.19	0	186466.07	N/A	164.14	357	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	196	0	38412191	12.70	1413
ispd18_test8	65469076.07	2412121	404288.83	54369	32394.17	0	182631.92	N/A	179.39	401	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	192	0	38602461	13.54	1411
ispd18_test9	54760288.72	2410790	358490.45	55318	26357.22	0	177587.80	N/A	14.83	522	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	109	0	33129214	11.30	1122
ispd18_test10	68090186.48	2594386	1066700.56	97600	39856.21	0	236109.72	N/A	2582.10	600	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	918	0	42704252	11.82	2224
ispd19_test1	642583.70	36797	13538.58	1567	762.59	744	11284.83	55	19.82	17	10	22	19	5	55	N/A	0	597403	1.28	150
ispd19_test2	24961335.76	811080	395795.89	34271	22002.73	23615	209929.36	1639	547.08	634	965	987	172	94	5984	N/A	0	21910640	13.81	1694
ispd19_test3	842169.62	65501	12447.07	1672	1938.80	662	16236.76	74	22.92	49	201	125	32	78	108	N/A	0	1060034	0.97	62
ispd19_test4	30491193.70	1031333	568882.56	45247	15201.72	3	122369.64	2264	1783.13	37	264	47	0	0	0	N/A	0	22312599	12.09	1745
ispd19_test5	4780469.72	153504	14036.38	2688	2087.56	15	15212.36	287	70.18	3	144	16	0	0	0	N/A	0	3297338	1.75	155
ispd19_test6	66066591.23	1998487	760296.22	66862	25717.70	12468	457307.57	4022	1558.64	754	1175	822	377	56	1235	N/A	0	47336856	10.42	2836
ispd19_test7	122558107.84	4833913	883097.59	102010	45009.73	24305	607014.34	2423	899.00	1916	21733	1682	753	48	3512	N/A	0	98736640	20.82	7165
ispd19_test8	188472592.09	7365292	1225631.51	163218	72500.42	36390	729298.28	3048	1070.81	2830	4292	2793	1266	81	5903	N/A	0	136530155	30.96	10714
ispd19_test9	285390772.80	12249476	1881593.79	276221	125462.74	60624	1213996.98	6646	1933.66	5010	6815	5157	3484	133	9484	N/A	0	214519790	49.40	15010
ispd19_test10	282178218.27	12544541	1821064.92	255274	127318.93	60621	1412830.92	6879	1984.04	4855	6769	4872	2990	136	10429	N/A	0	214337744	50.72	15932

(WL for "wirelength", v for "via", sv for "single-cut via", og for "out-of-guide", ot for "off-track", ww for "wrong-way", a for "area", prl for "parallel-run-length spacing", eol for "end-of-line spacing")

5. License

READ THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT CAREFULLY BEFORE USING THIS PRODUCT. BY USING THIS PRODUCT YOU INDICATE YOUR ACCEPTANCE OF THE TERMS OF THE FOLLOWING AGREEMENT. THESE TERMS APPLY TO YOU AND ANY SUBSEQUENT LICENSEE OF THIS PRODUCT.

License Agreement for Dr. CU

Copyright (c) 2019-2021, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

All rights reserved.

CU-SD LICENSE (adapted from the original BSD license) Redistribution of the any code, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the conditions below are met.

1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.

2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

3. Neither the name nor trademark of the copyright holder or the author may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.

4. Users are entirely responsible, to the exclusion of the author, for compliance with (a) regulations set by owners or administrators of employed equipment, (b) licensing terms of any other software, and (c) local, national, and international regulations regarding use, including those regarding import, export, and use of encryption software.

THIS FREE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR ANY CONTRIBUTOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, EFFECTS OF UNAUTHORIZED OR MALICIOUS NETWORK ACCESS; PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.