Density-based area recovery in electronic design automation

1. A computer-implemented method for facilitating the creation of a design in an electronic design automation (EDA) application, comprising:

determining a utilization of a region from a set of regions in a design floorplan; and

using a processor to perform area recovery on the region based at least on the utilization, wherein area recovery is performed based on a reverse-levelized ordering of cells in the design.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising:

overlaying the design floorplan with a grid, wherein the grid comprises a set of grid cells; and

using the grid cells as the set of regions.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2 , wherein the grid is associated with a predetermined number of rows and a predetermined number of columns.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein determining the utilization of the region involves:

calculating the utilization as a cell area of the region divided by a placement area of the region, which does not include blocked areas of the region.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 4 , wherein the utilization is incrementally calculated during the creation and optimization of the design.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , wherein a high utilization of the region corresponds to an increased use of the processor to perform area recovery on the region.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6 , wherein using the processor to perform area recovery on the region based at least on the utilization involves:

performing area recovery on the region if the utilization is higher than a density threshold associated with the region; and

skipping area recovery on the region if the utilization is lower than the density threshold.

8. A system for facilitating the creation of a design in an electronic design automation (EDA) application, comprising:

a region-generation apparatus configured to divide a design floorplan of the design into a set of regions; and

an area-recovery apparatus configured to:

determine a utilization of a region from the set of the regions; and

perform area recovery on the region based at least on the utilization, wherein area recovery is performed based on a reverse-levelized ordering of cells in the design.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein dividing the design floorplan into the set of regions involves:

overlaying the design floorplan with a grid, wherein the grid comprises a set of grid cells; and

using the grid cells as the set of regions.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the grid is associated with a predetermined number of rows and a predetermined number of columns.

11. The system of claim 8 , wherein determining the utilization of the region involves:

calculating the utilization as a cell area of the region divided by a placement area of the region, which does not include blocked areas of the region.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the utilization is incrementally calculated during the creation and optimization of the design.

13. The system of claim 8 , wherein a high utilization of the region corresponds to increased area recovery on the region.

14. The system of claim 8 , wherein performing area recovery on the region based at least on the utilization involves:

performing area recovery on the region if the utilization is higher than a density threshold associated with the region; and

skipping area recovery on the region if the utilization is lower than the density threshold.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer cause the computer to perform a method for facilitating the creation of a design in an electronic design automation (EDA) application, the method comprising:

determining a utilization of a region from a set of regions in a design floorplan; and

using a processor to perform area recovery on the region based at least on the utilization, wherein area recovery is performed based on a reverse-levelized ordering of cells in the design.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , the method further comprising:

overlaying the design floorplan with a grid, wherein the grid comprises a set of grid cells; and

using the grid cells as the set of regions.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein the grid is associated with a predetermined number of rows and a predetermined number of columns.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein determining the utilization of the region involves:

calculating the utilization as a cell area of the region divided by a placement area of the region, which does not include blocked areas of the region.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the utilization is incrementally calculated during the creation and optimization of the design.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein a high utilization of the region corresponds to an increased use of the processor to perform area recovery on the region.

21. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein using the processor to perform area recovery on the region based at least on the utilization involves:

performing area recovery on the region if the utilization is higher than a density threshold associated with the region; and

skipping area recovery on the region if the utilization is lower than the density threshold.