AutoDMP: Automated DREAMPlace-based Macro Placement

Macro placement is a critical very large-scale integration (VLSI) physical design problem that significantly impacts the design power-performance-area (PPA) metrics. This paper proposes AutoDMP, a methodology that leverages DREAMPlace, a GPU-accelerated placer, to place macros and standard cells concurrently in conjunction with automated parameter tuning using a multi-objective hyperparameter optimization technique. As a result, we can generate high-quality predictable solutions, improving the macro placement quality of academic benchmarks compared to baseline results generated from academic and commercial tools. AutoDMP is also computationally efficient, optimizing a design with 2.7 million cells and 320 macros in 3 hours on a single NVIDIA DGX Station A100. This work demonstrates the promise and potential of combining GPU-accelerated algorithms and ML techniques for VLSI design automation.