VLSI is an important area of electronic and computer engineering. However, there are few textbooks available for undergraduate/postgraduate study of VLSI design automation and chip layout. VLSI Physical Design Automation: Theory and Practice fills the void and is an essential introduction for senior undergraduates, postgraduates and anyone starting work in the field of CAD for VLSI. It covers all aspects of physical design, together with such related areas as automatic cell generation, silicon compilation, layout editors and compaction. A problem-solving approach is adopted and each solution is illustrated with examples. Each topic is treated in a standard format: Problem Definition, Cost Functions and Constraints, Possible Approaches and Latest Developments. Special features: The book deals with all aspects of VLSI physical design, from partitioning and floorplanning to layout generation and silicon compilation; provides a comprehensive treatment of most of the popular algorithms; covers the latest developments and gives a bibliography for further research; offers numerous fully described examples, problems and programming exercises.