Critical path straightening system based on free-space aware and timing driven incremental placement

A method of straightening a critical path, the method comprising:

• identifying, via a path straightening module including a computer hardware processor, at least one meandering critical path of a circuit, and generating via the path straightening module a reference curve based on dimensions of the critical path, wherein the critical path includes at least one gate coupled thereto that defines an initial slack timing value;
• identifying, via a critical point identification (ID) module including a hardware computer processor, at least one critical point on the reference curve;
• identifying, via a free-space ID module including a hardware computer processor, at least one free-space to receive the gate with respect to the at least one critical point;
• determining, via a free-space selector module including a hardware computer processor, a modified slack timing value based on relocating the at least one gate to the at least one free-space;
• and
• moving, via a gate modification module including a hardware computer processor, the at least one gate to the at least one free-space when the modified slack timing value is greater than the initial slack timing value.

A computer program product for straightening a critical path of an electronic circuit, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by an electronic computer processor to perform:

• identifying at least one meandering critical path of a circuit, and generating a reference curve based on dimensions of the critical path, wherein the critical path includes at least one gate coupled thereto that defines an initial slack timing value;
• identifying at least one critical point on the reference curve;
• identifying at least one free-space to receive the gate with respect to the at least one critical point;
• determining a modified slack timing value based on relocating the at least one gate to the at least one free-space;
• and
• moving the at least one gate to the at least one free-space when the modified slack timing value is greater than the initial slack timing value.