High-level synthesis of digital circuits by finding fixpoints

A technique for the synthesis of two-level and nested logic from recursive behavioral specifications is presented. The two-level circuits derived are optimal (up to product term sharing). Different specifications of the same function always yield the same hardware. Any recursive first-order function can be synthesized without a stack /spl minus/ no other high-level synthesis systems have demonstrated this capability. The technique is extended to synthesize circuits for a wide range of sequential circuits. The formal techniques used are based on domain theory and "frontiers" algorithms.<>