Method, system, and product for an improved approach to placement and optimization in a physical design flow

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon a sequence of instructions which, when executed by a processor performs a set of acts, the set of acts comprising:

• identifying a synthesized netlist having circuit elements for placement;
• generating an early clock tree;
• generating multiple uncertainty values for the early clock tree before initial placement of circuit elements in a layout;
• determining initial placement locations of the circuit elements in a placeopt process on a path by path basis using the multiple uncertainty values;
• and
• executing clock tree synthesis after determining the initial placement locations of the circuit elements.

A system, comprising:

• memory comprising a sequence of instructions;
• and
• a processor that executes the sequence of instructions to perform a set of acts comprising:
• identifying a synthesized netlist having circuit elements for placement;
• generating an early clock tree;
• generating multiple uncertainty values for the early clock tree before initial placement of circuit elements in a layout;
• determining initial placement locations of the circuit elements in a placeopt process on a path by path basis using the multiple uncertainty values;
• and
• executing clock tree synthesis after determining the initial placement locations of the circuit elements.