Semi-flattened pin optimization process for hierarchical physical designs

1. In a hierarchal semiconductor digital unit comprised of a plurality of macro functional logic blocks each comprised of a plurality of leaf cells located within a peripheral border of each of said plurality of macro functional logic blocks, each of said leaf cells within a macro accessed by signals from signals outside the macro via an input pin and an output pin, the improvement comprising:

synthesizing each macro block without regard to the location of said input pin and said output pin for each of said leaf cells;

determining a grid of legal pin locations for each macro block synthesized in said synthesizing step;

locating each said input pin providing access to a leaf cell at a legal location nearest to said leaf cell to which said input pin provides access;

locating each said output pin providing access to a leaf cell at a legal location nearest to said leaf cell to which said output pin provides access;

locating each said input pin providing access to a plurality of leaf cells at a legal location inboard of said peripheral border closest to the geometric center of said plurality of said plurality of leaf cells;

locating each said output pin providing access to a plurality of leaf cells at a legal location inboard of said peripheral border closest to the geometric center of said plurality of said plurality of leaf cells; and

re-synthesizing each macro with input and output pins located in accordance with the previous claim steps in order to eliminate unneeded re-powering circuitry between a pin and a leaf.