SimPL: An effective placement algorithm

We propose a self-contained, flat, force-directed algorithm for global placement that is simpler than existing placers and easier to integrate into timing-closure flows. It maintains lower-bound and upper-bound placements that converge to a final solution. The upper-bound placement is produced by a novel rough legalization algorithm. Our placer SimPL outperforms mPL6, NTUPlace3, FastPlace3, APlace2 and Capo simultaneously in runtime and solution quality, running 6.4 times faster than mPL6 and reducing wirelength by 2% on the ISPD 2005 benchmark suite.