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LSS: A system for production logic synthesis
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by J. A. Darringer,
D. Brand,
J. V. Gerbi,
W. H. Joyner, Jr.,
and L. Trevillyan |
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IBM Journal of Research and Development, Volume 28, Issue 5, pp. 537-545 (1984).
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Logic synthesis is a process by which an abstract form of desired circuit behavior is converted to an actual design implementation involving logic gates. This paper describes the evolution of the Logic Synthesis System (LSS) from an experimental tool to a production system. While processor complexity increased and while denser, higher-performance technologies were developed, the job of the logic designer became exceedingly difficult. Automated tools were essential to improving designer productivity, and they allowed designers to generate logic implementations in the desired technology from the designer's functional specification.
This paper describes the development of a system that automatically transformed functional specifications to production-quality masterslice integrated circuit technology implementations. When the paper was written, the system was used extensively at IBM Poughkeepsie for high-performance design projects. LSS was successful because it used local transformations to simplify logic representations at several levels of abstraction, and because logic designers and synthesis system designers worked together closely to understand the IBM logic design process in order to incorporate their knowledge and experience into the tool.
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