A stochastic evolution algorithm based 2D VLSI global router

•The role of evolutionary algorithms remains minor in recent global routers.•The proposed global router uses the Stochastic Evolution algorithm (StocE).•The StocE does the tuning of parameters and the selection of nets in the rip-up and re-route process.•It uses only one method of routing which is maze routing with framing.•The proposed global router was evaluated on the ISPD׳98 and ISPD׳2008 benchmarks.•The results show that the StocE is efficient in global routing by controlling its different tasks.•It does not depend on advanced routing methods to solve complex problems.

In this work we present a global router that uses the features of the Stochastic Evolution (StocE) algorithm to perform the rip-up and re-route (R&R) process. The unique features of the proposed global router are its simple design and ability to produce good results. It has two main components: (i) maze routing with framing (MRF) that act as a means of routing the nets; and (ii) a StocE algorithm that controls the R&R process and adjusts the parameters of the MRF method. This work shows that the StocE algorithm can perform the net selection in the R&R process and also adjust the parameter values of the MRF method in order to successfully solve 2D global routing problems. The performance of the proposed global router on the ISPD98 and ISPD2008 benchmarks was found to be better than some of the existing global routers.