Approximation scheme for restricted discrete gate sizing targeting delay minimization

Discrete gate sizing is a critical optimization in VLSI circuit design. Given a set of available gate sizes, discrete gate sizing problem asks to assign a size to each gate such that the delay of a combinational circuit is minimized while the cost constraint is satisfied. It is one of the most studied problems in VLSI computer-aided design. Despite this, all of the existing techniques are heuristics with no performance guarantee. This limits the understanding of the discrete gate sizing problem in theory.