Functional Comparison of Logic Designs for VLSI Circuits

Determining whether or not two circuits are functionally equivalent is of fundamental importance in many phases of the design of computer logic. We describe a new method for circuit equivalence which proceeds by reducing the question of whether two circuits are equivalent to a number of more easily answered questions concerning the equivalence of smaller, related circuits. This method can be used to extend the power of any given equivalence-checking algorithm. We report the results of experiments evaluating our technique.