An Efficient Solution to Circuit Partitioning Using Tabu Search and Genetic Algorithms

Abstract

The modern philosophy for constructing fast, globally convergent algorithms is to combine a simple globally convergent algorithm with a fast, locally convergent algorithm to form a hybrid. The work in this paper involves exploring and implementing hybrid solutions to the problem of circuit partitioning in VLSI physical design. Results obtained indicate that the generated solutions and running time of a combined Tabu Search and Genetic Algorithm are superior to results obtained from Simulated Annealing and Iterative Improvement methods based on module interchange. 1 Introduction Circuit partitioning is the task of dividing a circuit into two or more smaller parts. Given a VLSI netlist, the circuit partitioning attempts to divide the circuit into k parts of specified sizes so as to minimize the number of signal nets that interconnect components in the k partitions. Partitioning can be used directly to divide a circuit into portions that are implemented on separate physical components, s..