Apparatus and method for relative position annotation of standard cell components to facilitate datapath design

A method of designing a circuit includes annotating relative positions of instantiated hierarchical macro cells, which include two or more instantiated standard cells. The relative positions of individual instantiated standard cells may also be annotated. Relative positions of instantiated hierarchical macro cells and individual instantiated standard cells may be altered to form a more compact standard cell configuration. Pin positions may also be annotated by relative position. Relative pin positions may be altered to promote dense signal line routing within the standard cell design. The relative positions of the instantiated hierarchical macro cells and individual instantiated standard cells are converted to absolute grid position locations to form a grid assigned circuit. The grid assigned circuit is then routed.