CAD/CAM Database Management

The VLSI design database (Vdd) system is a set of programs targeted to assist a circuit designer in layout design, verification, and simulation. As a subsystem in a package of integrated design aids, it also provides interface to other higherlevel tools. We state the major problems in designing Vdd and outline how these problems can be solved using existing database techniques. The problems are: the need to have two distinct representations of a chip a language description and a database representation, the desirability to support chip design in different silicon processing technologies, and the need to treat a design session as a database transaction. The database techniques used include database modeling by sthen~as, secondary indexing, swapping of data in and out of the main storage according to data satiantic~, and atomic transaction comm~nent.