Physical Layout after Half a Century: From Back-Board Ordering to Multi-Dimensional Placement and Beyond

Innovations and advancements on physical design (PD) in the past half century significantly contribute to the progresses of modern VLSI designs. While ``Moore's Law'' and ``Dennard Scaling'' have become slowing down recently, physical design society encountered a set of challenges and opportunities. This article is presented at the event of the Life Time Achievement Award for Dr. Satoshi Goto by ISPD 2017. Dr. Goto's career in VLSI designs sets an exemplar role model for young engineers. Thus, we use his contributions as a thread to describe our personal view of physical layout from early back-board ordering to recent multi-dimensional placement and the future.