Specifications

CHAPTER 9: TIMING CLOSURE
USING THE DESIGN SPACE EXPLORER TO ACHIEVE TIMING CLOSURE
172 ■ INTRODUCTION TO QUARTUS II ALTERA CORPORATION
Using the Design Space Explorer to
Achieve Timing Closure
You can use the Design Space Explorer (DSE) Tcl script, dse.tcl, to optimize
your design for timing. The DSE interface allows you to explore a range of
Quartus II options and settings automatically to determine which settings
should be used to obtain the best possible result for the project. You can
specify the level of change you will allow DSE to make, your optimization
goals, the target device, and the allowable compilation time.
You can run the Design Space Explorer from the command line by using the
quartus_sh executable, the Launch Design Space Explorer command (Tools
menu) in the Quartus II software, or by using the Quartus II
<version number> Design Space Explorer command from the Windows
Start menu. For more information on using the Design Space Explorer, refer
to “Using the Design Space Explorer” on page 105 in Chapter 5, “Place &
Route.”
Using Incremental Compilation to
Achieve Timing Closure
You can use incremental compilation to achieve timing closure by assigning
design partitions, compiling the design, and then to changing the placement
of only the critical elements of the design while processing the other design
partitions.
For more information about incremental compilation, refer to “Top-Down
Incremental Compilation Flow” on page 30 in Chapter 1, “Design Flow.” and
“Performing a Full Incremental Compilation” on page 92 in Chapter 5,
“Place & Route.”