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This book would not have been possible without a great deal of help from many
people. We are deeply indebted to Ioannis Savidis and Eby Friedman for contrib-
uting the chapter on physical design trends for interconnects. Their insights and
expertise on the topic have greatly improved the quality of the fi nished book.
Additionally, Andreas Gerstlauer, Ilya Issenin, Per Gunnar Kjeldsberg, Ioannis
Savidis, and Sungjoo Yoo carefully reviewed drafts of this manuscript and provided
invaluable comments and suggestions. Without their assistance, this book would
not be in its present state.
The chapters in this book benefi ted greatly from the input of several research-
ers. We would like to extend special thanks to the following individuals for