route_design - 2024.1 English

Vivado Design Suite Tcl Command Reference Guide (UG835)
Document ID
UG835
Release Date
2024-05-30
Version
2024.1 English

Route the current design

Syntax

route_design [‑unroute] [‑release_memory] [‑nets <args>] [‑physical_nets]
    [‑pins <arg>] [‑directive <arg>] [‑tns_cleanup] [‑no_timing_driven]
    [‑preserve] [‑delay] [‑auto_delay] ‑max_delay <arg> ‑min_delay <arg>
    [‑timing_summary] [‑finalize] [‑ultrathreads] [‑eco] [‑no_psir]
    [‑quiet] [‑verbose]

Usage

Name Description
[-unroute] Unroute whole design or the given nets/pins if used with -nets or -pins.
[-release_memory] Release Router memory. Not compatible with any other options.
[-nets] Operate on the given nets.
[-physical_nets] Operate on all physical nets.
[-pins] Operate on the given pins.
[-directive] Mode of behavior (directive) for this command. Please refer to Arguments section of this help for values for this option. Default: Default
[-tns_cleanup] Do optional TNS clean up.
[-no_timing_driven] Do not run in timing driven mode.
[-preserve] Preserve existing routing.
[-delay] Use with -nets or -pins option to route in delay driven mode.
[-auto_delay] Use with -nets or -pins option to route in constraint driven mode.
-max_delay Use with -pins option to specify the max_delay constraint on the pins.When specified -delay is implicit.
-min_delay Use with -pins option to specify the max_delay constraint on the pins.When specified -delay is implicit.
[-timing_summary] Enable post-router signoff timing summary.
[-finalize] finalize route_design in interactive mode.
[-ultrathreads] Enable Turbo mode routing.
[-eco] runs incremental router if there was eco modification on routed netlist.
[-no_psir] skips Physical Synthesis in Router phase.
[-quiet] Ignore command errors
[-verbose] Suspend message limits during command execution

Categories

Tools

Description

Route the nets in the current design to complete logic connections on the target part.

Predefined routing strategies can be quickly selected using the route_design -directive command, or specific route options can be configured to define your own routing strategy.

Routing can be completed automatically with route_design, or can be completed iteratively using the various options of the route_design command to achieve route completion and timing closure. Iterative routing provides you some control over the routing process to route critical nets first and then route less critical nets, and to control the level of effort and the timing algorithms for these various route passes.

Routing is one step of the complete design implementation process, which can be run automatically through the use of the launch_runs command when running the Vivado™ tools in Project Mode.

In Non-Project Mode, the implementation process must be run manually with the individual commands: opt_design, place_design, phys_opt_design, power_opt_design, and route_design. Refer to the Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Design Flows Overview (UG892) for a complete description of Project Mode and Non-Project Mode.

Tip: The route_design can be multi-threaded to speed the process. Refer to the set_param command for more information on setting the general.maxThreads parameter.

Both placement and routing can be completed incrementally, based on prior results stored in a Design Checkpoint file (DCP), using the incremental implementation flow. Refer to the read_checkpoint command, or to Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Implementation (UG904) for more information on incremental place and route.

This command requires a placed design, and it is recommended that you have optimized the design with opt_design prior to placement.

Arguments

-unroute <arg> - (Optional) Unroute nets in the design. If no arguments are specified, all nets in the design are unrouted. The route_design command will not route any nets when the -unroute option is specified.

  • Combine with the -nets option to limit unrouting to a list of nets.
  • Combine with the -pins option to unroute from a specified pin to the nearest branch of the net.
  • Combine with the -physical_nets option to unroute all logic 1 and logic 0 nets.

-release_memory - (Optional) Free router memory resources for subsequent route passes. This option does not run route passes, but only releases memory held by the router to reduce router initialization. The router will need to reload design data for subsequent route passes.

-nets <args> - (Optional) Route or unroute only the specified net objects. Net objects must be specified using the get_nets command.

Tip: The router uses a quick route approach to find a routing solution for the specified nets, ignoring timing delays, when routing with -nets, -physical_nets, or -pins specified. Use -delay to find a route with the shortest delay.

-physical_nets - (Optional) Route or unroute only logic zero and logic one nets.

-pins <args> - (Optional) Route or unroute to the specified pins, which must be input pins. If a specified pin is driven by a multiple fanout net, only the route segment between the net and pin is affected.

-directive <arg> - (Optional) Direct routing to achieve specific design objectives. Only one directive can be specified for a single route_design command, and values are case-sensitive. Supported values are:

  • Explore - Causes the Vivado™ router to explore different critical path routes based on timing, after an initial route.
  • AggressiveExplore - Directs the router to further expand its exploration of critical path routes while maintaining original timing budgets. The router runtime might be significantly higher compared to the Explore directive as the router uses more aggressive optimization thresholds to attempt to meet timing constraints.
  • NoTimingRelaxation - Prevents the router from relaxing timing to complete routing. If the router has difficulty meeting timing, it will run longer to try to meet the original timing constraints.
  • MoreGlobalIterations - Uses detailed timing analysis throughout all stages instead of just the final stages, and will run more global iterations even when timing improves only slightly.
  • HigherDelayCost - Adjusts the router's internal cost functions to emphasize delay over iterations, allowing a trade-off of runtime for better performance.
  • AdvancedSkewModeling - Uses more accurate skew modeling throughout all routing stages which may improve design performance on higher-skew clock networks.
  • AlternateCLBRouting - (UltraScale™ only) Chooses alternate routing algorithms that require extra runtime but may help resolve routing congestion.
  • RuntimeOptimized - Run fewest iterations, trade higher design performance for faster runtime.
  • Quick - Absolute fastest runtime, non-timing-driven, performs the minimum required routing for a legal design.
  • Default - Run route_design with default settings.
Important: The -directive option controls the overall routing strategy, and is not compatible with any specific route_design options, except -preserve and -tns_cleanup. It can also be used with -quiet and -verbose. Only the Explore, Quick, and Default directives are compatible with high reuse designs and the incremental implementation flow as defined by read_checkpoint -incremental. Refer to the Vivado Design Suite User Guide: Implementation (UG904) for more information on the use of the -directive option.

-tns_cleanup - (Optional) By default, to reduce runtime, the router focuses on optimizing the Worst Negative Slack (WNS) path as opposed to Total Negative Slack (TNS) paths. This option invokes an optional phase at the end of routing where the router attempts to fix the TNS paths, those failing paths other than the WNS path. This option may reduce TNS at the cost of added runtime, but will not affect WNS. The -tns_cleanup option is recommended when using post-route phys_opt_design to ensure that optimization focuses on the WNS path and does not waste effort on TNS paths that can be fixed by the router. This option can be used in combination with -directive.

-no_timing_driven - (Optional) Disables the default timing driven routing algorithm. This results in faster routing results, but ignores any timing constraints during the routing process.

-preserve - (Optional) Existing completed routes will be preserved and not subject to the rip-up and reroute phase. This does not apply to routing that is fixed using the IS_ROUTE_FIXED or FIXED_ROUTE properties, which is not subject to being rerouted. Routing is preserved only for the current route_design command.

Tip: Partially routed nets are subject to rerouting to complete the connection. If you want to preserve the routing of a partially routed net, you should apply the FIXED_ROUTE property to the portion of the route you want to preserve.

-delay - (Optional) Can only be used in combination with the -nets or -pins options. By default nets are routed to achieve the fastest routing runtime, ignoring timing constraints, when using -nets and -pins options. The -delay option directs the router to try to achieve the shortest routed interconnect delay, but still ignores timing constraints.

Important: You can specify multiple nets to route at the same time using the -delay option, but this can result in conflicts for routing resources. The Vivado router may create node overlap errors if the nets are in close proximity to each other because the -delay option will reuse routing resources to achieve the shortest routes for all specified nets. Therefore it is recommended to route nets and pins individually using the -delay option, beginning with the most critical.

-auto_delay - (Optional) Can only be used in combination with the -nets or -pins options. It is recommended to use the -auto_delay option on a placed design, and limit the specified number of nets or pins to less than 100. The -auto_delay option directs the router to prioritize setup and hold critical paths using the defined timing constraints.

-max_delay <arg> - (Optional) Can only be used with -pins. Directs the router to try to achieve an interconnect delay less than or equal to the specified delay given in picoseconds. When this options is specified, the -delay option is implied.

Note: The -max_delay and -min_delay options specify the delay limits for the interconnect only, not the logic or intra-site delay. The router attempts to satisfy the delay restrictions on the interconnect.

-min_delay <arg> - (Optional) Can only be used with -pins. Directs the router to try to achieve an interconnect delay greater than or equal to the specified delay given in picoseconds. When this option is specified, the -delay option is implied.

-timing_summary - (Optional) By default, the router outputs a final timing summary to the log, based on Vivado router internal estimated timing which might differ slightly from the actual routed timing due to pessimism in the delay estimates. The -timing_summary option forces the router to launch the Vivado static timing analyzer to report the timing summary based on actual routed delays, but incurs additional run time for the static timing analysis. The timing summary consists of the Worst Negative Slack (WNS), Total Negative Slack (TNS), Worst Hold Slack (WHS), and Total Hold Slack (THS). The values are identical to that of report_timing_summary when run on the post-route design.

Tip: The Vivado static timing analyzer is also launched by the -directive Explore option.

-finalize - (Optional) When routing interactively you can specify route_design -finalize to complete any partially routed connections.

-ultrathreads - (Optional) Reduces router runtime at the expense of repeatability. This option enables the router to run faster, but there will be some variation in routing results between otherwise identical runs.

-eco - (Optional) Run router in incremental mode when there is an eco modification. When in incremental mode, as well as routing new nets, the router can modify existing nets to improve routability and the ability to meet timing. This option can be called by itself, or it can be used with the -no_timing_driven switch or the Quick directive. These options run the router with timing off for a faster result.

-no_psir - (Optional) Disables Physical Synthesis In Router (PSIR) optimization during route. By default, Vivado router performs interconnect retiming and clock, critical pin, LUT restructure, placement, and routing optimizations to improve delay.

-quiet - (Optional) Execute the command quietly, returning no messages from the command. The command also returns TCL_OK regardless of any errors encountered during execution.
Note: Any errors encountered on the command-line, while launching the command, will be returned. Only errors occurring inside the command will be trapped.
-verbose - (Optional) Temporarily override any message limits and return all messages from this command.
Note: Message limits can be defined with the set_msg_config command.

Examples

Route the entire design, and direct the router to try multiple algorithms for improving critical path delay: 

route_design -directive Explore

The following example routes the set of timing critical nets, $criticalNets, to the shortest interconnect delay, marks the nets as fixed using the IS_ROUTE_FIXED property, and then routes the rest of the design using a low effort directive for fast results: 

route_design -delay -nets $criticalNets
set_property IS_ROUTE_FIXED 1 $criticalNets
route_design -directive RuntimeOptimized

Route the specified nets using the fastest runtime: 

route_design -nets [get_nets ctrl0/ctr*]

Route the specified nets to get the shortest interconnect delays: 

route_design -nets [get_nets ctrl0/ctr*] -delay

Route to the specified pins: 

route_design -pins [get_pins ctrl0/reset_reg/D ctrl0/ram0/ADDRARDADDR]

Route to a particular pin, try to achieve less than 500 ps delay: 

route_design -pins [get_pins ctrl0/reset_reg/D] -max_delay 500

Route to a particular pin, try to achieve more than 200 ps delay: 

route_design -pins [get_pins ctrl0/ram0/ADDRARDADDR] -min_delay 200

See Also