A scalable black-box optimization system for auto-tuning VLSI synthesis programs

Abstract

Modern logic and physical synthesis tools provide numerous options and parameters that can drastically impact design quality; however the large number of options leads to a complex design space difficult for human circuit designers to navigate. We tackle this parameter tuning problem with a novel system employing intelligent search strategies and parallel computing, thus au-tomating one of the key design tasks conventionally performed by a human de-signer. We provide an overview of this system, called SynTunSys, as well as results from employing it during the design of the IBM z13 22nm high-performance server chip, currently in production. During this major processor design, SynTunSys provided significant savings in human design effort and achieved a quality of results beyond what human designers alone could achieve, yielding on average a 36% improvement in total negative slack and a 7% power reduction.