Publisher's Synopsis
To fully exploit VLSI technology, future CAD tools need to perform a high proportion of the intelligent decision-making necessary for design. It is imperative that these tasks be massively automated so that the intellectual load on the human designer is reduced, allowing a more efficient use of his time and creative abilities. This book investigates the applicability of knowledge-based techniques to the problems of VLSI design. Topics covered include: an overview of knowledge-based techniques; a description of work illustrating the application of these techniques to various VLSI design tasks; and a survey of workstations and software available for constructing knowledge-based systems. Although much of the material in this book has been illustrated using examples from microelectronic CAD, the issues and techniques have been presented in such a way as to make them useful to managers, designers and researchers who wish to learn of the advantages of knowledge-based techniques in practical applications.
