Direct circuit simulation algorithms for parallel processing [VLSI]

Author

Cox, Paul F. ; Burch, Richard G. ; Hocevar, Dale E. ; Yang, Ping ; Epler, Berton D.

Author_Institution

Texas Instrum. Inc., Dallas, TX, USA

Volume

10

Issue

6

fYear

1991

fDate

6/1/1991 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

714

Lastpage

725

Abstract

The improvement in computational throughput of VLSI circuit simulation is addressed. A high degree of natural parallelism exists in the circuit simulation problem; potentially a large number of processor can be used efficiently. Three distinct approaches for obtaining parallel execution in direct-method circuit simulators are investigated. These approaches differ primarily in the size of the individual tasks used to obtain parallel execution. The relative advantages of each approach are examined, and performance data from simulations on parallel processing systems are presented. For the third approach, very good parallel efficiency was obtained; in some cases, 99% parallelism has been observed

Keywords

VLSI; circuit analysis computing; parallel algorithms; VLSI circuit simulation; computational throughput; direct-method; parallel processing; simulation algorithms; Circuit simulation; Circuit synthesis; Computational modeling; Computer simulation; Parallel processing; Process design; Relaxation methods; SPICE; Throughput; Very large scale integration;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0278-0070

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/43.137500

Filename

137500