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RTL-to-GDSII Implementation

Floorplanning Basics: Deciding Where Everything Goes

Floorplanning is the process of deciding the physical placement of major blocks on a chip – cores, memories, I/O, and power structures – before detailed placement and routing begin. It's one of the most consequential decisions in the entire implementation flow.

VIDYUTT• July 18, 2026• 2 min read
Figure 1: A simplified chip floorplan showing major blocks, memory macros, I/O, and power distribution.
Figure 1: A simplified chip floorplan showing major blocks, memory macros, I/O, and power distribution.

What Floorplanning Involves

Engineers position large blocks (processor cores, memory macros, accelerators) to minimize wire lengths between frequently-communicating blocks, while leaving room for I/O connections around the chip's periphery. Power ring and strap structures are planned to deliver stable power across the whole die. Good floorplans also account for thermal considerations, keeping high-power blocks appropriately spread out or near effective heat dissipation paths.

Why It Matters

A poor floorplan creates long wire routes between critical blocks, making later timing closure far more difficult – sometimes impossible without a full floorplan rework. Since floorplanning happens early, mistakes here are expensive to fix later, making it one of the highest-leverage stages to get right the first time.

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