Flow ArenaOverview

Flow Arena

DEF-based physical design leaderboard and benchmark scorer

DEF Benchmark Arena

Physical Design Flow Scoring

Users receive the PDK and Verilog netlists, run their own CAD flow, and submit DEF archives. Flow Arena evaluates each DEF against visible and hidden benchmark designs, records tool-stage logs, and ranks finished submissions by normalized timing, power, area, and DRC quality.

Active PDK

SKY130

KLayout DRC · OpenSTA · RCX

Score

0-100

Timing

Slack

Power

mW

Area

um2

Scoring Methodology

Composite Score

score = 100 * (0.45*T + 0.30*A + 0.20*P + 0.05*D)

Each visible and hidden benchmark is scored against stored baseline metrics, then aggregated into the submission score.

Timing Score

T = clamp(baseline_slack / max(required_gap, actual_gap), 0, 1)

Positive slack is rewarded; negative slack is penalized relative to the benchmark timing baseline.

Area Score

A = baseline_area / max(baseline_area, actual_area)

Layouts larger than the baseline lose area score proportionally.

Power Score

P = baseline_power / max(baseline_power, actual_power)

Power is normalized against the active benchmark baseline for the captured tool version.

DRC Score

D = 1 when DRC passes, else 0

DRC failure keeps the design visible in logs but prevents it from contributing a valid benchmark score.

Automated Evaluation Flow

DEF ZIP

upload

Extract

archive

Netlist

DEF parse

RCX

parasitics

STA

OpenSTA

DRC

KLayout

Score

baseline