Satisfiability models and algorithms for circuit delay computation

Luís Guerra e Silva, João Marques-Silva, L. Miguel Silveira, Karem A. Sakallah
2002 ACM Transactions on Design Automation of Electronic Systems  
The existence of false paths represents a significant and computationally complex problem in the estimation of the true delay of combinational and sequential circuits. In this article we conduct a comprehensive study of modeling circuit delay computation, accounting for false paths, as a sequence of instances of Boolean satisfiability. Several path sensitization models and delay models are studied. In addition we evaluate some of the most competitive Boolean satisfiability algorithms seeking to
more » ... identify which are best suited for solving circuit delay computation problems. Finally, realistic delay modeling (taking into account extracted interconnect delays and fanout data) is considered in order to experimentally evaluate the complexity of solving real-world instances.
doi:10.1145/504914.504920 fatcat:ztkng66dkrf75aatt5ozp7uqeq