CONCORD - A system of cooperating VLSI design experts.

Concord is an automatic synthesis tool for converting a hierarchical structural circuit description into a full custom VLSI layout. It allows the user to design a chip using a standard circuit approach, in which circuits (as opposed to layouts) are selected from a library. Concord models the human physical design process as a collection of rule based experts communicating through a central manager. Global optimization is achieved through the passing of weighted constraints and backtracking. This paper describes the Concord model. The operation of the design manager is explained in some detail. An experiment to test this model is also described, along with the current implementation status.