A novel approach for the channel routing problem based on sorting is described. A router based on the bubble-sort for routing two point nets across a channel is presented. A lower and an upper bound on the channel width and an upperbound on the number of vias are given. The router is extended for handling multiterminal nets and single-sided connections. Results for multilayer channel routing are presented. The high-speed and predictable performance of these channel routing algorithms makes them valuable in assessing the difficulty of routing a particular configuration of logic blocks. This makes then suitable for use when calculating a cost metric in an iterative placement algorithm. >
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