Techniques for placement of integrated circuit elements include global
placement, detailed placement, timing closure, and routing. The
integrated circuit is described by a netlist specifying interconnections
of morphable devices. The detailed placement uses, for example,
Simultaneous Dynamical Integration, wherein the morphable-devices
correspond to nodes influenced by forces, including timing forces. The
timing forces are derived, for example, from a timing graph; path delay;
slack; and drive resistance of the elements. The timing closure uses
timing-driven buffering and timing-driven resizing to reduce maximum
delay and/or transition time, and/or to fix hold time. Nets having high
capacitance and/or fanout, and timing critical nets are preferentially
processed. Timing-driven buffering applies buffering solutions to
segments of route trees, combines solutions of adjoining segments, and
prunes sets of solutions. Timing-driven resizing morphably replaces
selected elements with upsized versions thereof.