Considering Floorplan - 2021.2 English

UltraFast Design Methodology Guide for Xilinx FPGAs and SoCs

Document ID
UG949
Release Date
2021-11-19
Version
2021.2 English

Floorplanning allows you to guide the tools, either through high-level hierarchy layout, or through detail placement. This can provide improved QoR and more predictable results. You can achieve the greatest improvements by fixing the worst problems or the most common problems. For example, if there are outlier paths that have significantly worse slack, or high levels of logic, fix those paths first by grouping them in a same region of the device through a Pblock. Limit floorplanning only to portions of design that need additional user intervention, rather than floorplanning the entire design.

Floorplanning logic that is connected to the I/O to the vicinity of the I/O can sometimes yield good results in terms of predictability from one compilation to the next. In general, it is best to keep the size of the Pblocks to a clock region. This provides the most flexibility for the placer. Avoid overlapping Pblocks, as these shared areas can potentially become more congested. Where there is a high number of connecting signals between two Pblocks consider merging them into a single Pblock. Minimize the number of nets that cross Pblocks.

Tip: When upgrading to a newer version of the Vivado Design Suite, first try compiling without Pblocks or with minimal Pblocks (i.e., only SLR level Pblocks) to see if there are any timing closure challenges. Pblocks that previously helped to improve the QoR might prevent place and route from finding the best possible implementation in the newer version of the tools.

For SSI technology devices, you can also consider using SLR Pblocks or soft floorplanning constraints (USER_SLR_ASSIGNMENT).