Floorplanning Problems in Mixed-Signal Design with Digital Block Pins Optimization

Hi,

I'm working on floorplanning a mixed-signal design that includes a digital block. I have a couple of questions where I'd appreciate some advice:

1. Auto Placement in Pre-Placed Padring:

• I have completed some custom blocks and their pads placements, leaving the center of the die empty.
• My concern is that Virtuoso might treat the entire pad ring as a single big block during auto placement, preventing blocks from being placed in the center.
• How can I configure the physical hierarchy to allow auto placement within the pad ring?

2. Pin Misalignment During Optimization:

• I attempted to load physical views of ready blocks, with the unfinished digital block positioned in the center.
• When I use the pin optimization function, the pins of the (unplaced) digital block don't align with the pins of the loaded blocks that they should be connected to.
• These blocks share many pin names at the top level and should have aligned pins after pins optimization.
• Could you advise on troubleshooting this pin alignment issue or provide the correct steps for pin optimization in this scenario?

Thank you in advance for your assistance