Macro placement status in the DEF file is "placed". Does this allow macros to move during SP&R?

[bodhi91]

In the macro placement DEF file, the macro placement status is listed as "placed." How does this ensure no movement of macros during SP&R runs? I am curious because macro movement will affect the evaluation flow mentioned in the ISPD 2023 paper.

[sakundu]

Please note that Genus iSpatial converts the placed macros to fixed macros during the physical synthesis stage. This ensures no macro movement during physical synthesis.

Additionally, in our P&R flow, we fix the macro location during the power planning stage (link 1: write_required_def.tcl ensures fixed macros), which ensures no macro movement during the place and route stage.

Bottom line: our scripts and experiments already ensure that there is no macro movement. Please let us know if you attempt to reproduce our studies, using our scripts and data, and observe that macros are being moved by the EDA tool.