Abstract
Since the delay of a circuit is determined by the delay of its longest sensitizable paths (such paths are called critical paths), the problem of estimating the delay of a circuit is called critical path problem. One important aspect of the critical path problem is deciding whether a path is sensitizable. Several path sensitization criteria have been proposed recently. However, they are often presented in different forms and it is hard to compare them with each other. In this paper, we propose three new path sensitization criteria according to a general framework. Other path sensitization criteria can also be presented in the same framework. Therefore, they can be compared with each other. Furthermore, we also propose an approximate criterion and develop an efficient critical path algorithm accordingly.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 196-207 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems |
| Volume | 12 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Feb 1993 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Manuscript received December 13, 1990; revised April 23, 1992. This work was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under Grant MIP-9007168. This paper was recommended by Associate Editor R. K. Brayton. The authors are with the Department of Computer Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455. IEEE Log Number 9202989.