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Auteurs principaux: Xue, Ke, Chen, Ruo-Tong, Lin, Xi, Shi, Yunqi, Kai, Shixiong, Xu, Siyuan, Qian, Chao
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2024
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Accès en ligne:https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.07167
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author Xue, Ke
Chen, Ruo-Tong
Lin, Xi
Shi, Yunqi
Kai, Shixiong
Xu, Siyuan
Qian, Chao
author_facet Xue, Ke
Chen, Ruo-Tong
Lin, Xi
Shi, Yunqi
Kai, Shixiong
Xu, Siyuan
Qian, Chao
contents In modern chip design, placement aims at placing millions of circuit modules, which is an essential step that significantly influences power, performance, and area (PPA) metrics. Recently, reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a promising technique for improving placement quality, especially macro placement. However, current RL-based placement methods suffer from long training times, low generalization ability, and inability to guarantee PPA results. A key issue lies in the problem formulation, i.e., using RL to place from scratch, which results in limits useful information and inaccurate rewards during the training process. In this work, we propose an approach that utilizes RL for the refinement stage, which allows the RL policy to learn how to adjust existing placement layouts, thereby receiving sufficient information for the policy to act and obtain relatively dense and precise rewards. Additionally, we introduce the concept of regularity during training, which is considered an important metric in the chip design industry but is often overlooked in current RL placement methods. We evaluate our approach on the ISPD 2005 and ICCAD 2015 benchmark, comparing the global half-perimeter wirelength and regularity of our proposed method against several competitive approaches. Besides, we test the PPA performance using commercial software, showing that RL as a regulator can achieve significant PPA improvements. Our RL regulator can fine-tune placements from any method and enhance their quality. Our work opens up new possibilities for the application of RL in placement, providing a more effective and efficient approach to optimizing chip design. Our code is available at \url{https://github.com/lamda-bbo/macro-regulator}.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2412_07167
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reinforcement Learning Policy as Macro Regulator Rather than Macro Placer
Xue, Ke
Chen, Ruo-Tong
Lin, Xi
Shi, Yunqi
Kai, Shixiong
Xu, Siyuan
Qian, Chao
Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
In modern chip design, placement aims at placing millions of circuit modules, which is an essential step that significantly influences power, performance, and area (PPA) metrics. Recently, reinforcement learning (RL) has emerged as a promising technique for improving placement quality, especially macro placement. However, current RL-based placement methods suffer from long training times, low generalization ability, and inability to guarantee PPA results. A key issue lies in the problem formulation, i.e., using RL to place from scratch, which results in limits useful information and inaccurate rewards during the training process. In this work, we propose an approach that utilizes RL for the refinement stage, which allows the RL policy to learn how to adjust existing placement layouts, thereby receiving sufficient information for the policy to act and obtain relatively dense and precise rewards. Additionally, we introduce the concept of regularity during training, which is considered an important metric in the chip design industry but is often overlooked in current RL placement methods. We evaluate our approach on the ISPD 2005 and ICCAD 2015 benchmark, comparing the global half-perimeter wirelength and regularity of our proposed method against several competitive approaches. Besides, we test the PPA performance using commercial software, showing that RL as a regulator can achieve significant PPA improvements. Our RL regulator can fine-tune placements from any method and enhance their quality. Our work opens up new possibilities for the application of RL in placement, providing a more effective and efficient approach to optimizing chip design. Our code is available at \url{https://github.com/lamda-bbo/macro-regulator}.
title Reinforcement Learning Policy as Macro Regulator Rather than Macro Placer
topic Machine Learning
Artificial Intelligence
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2412.07167