IC Compiler uses the “link library” to resolve all the instantiated components in a netlist. A netlist is resolved if IC Compiler finds a corresponding library cell (in any of the specified link_library files) for each leaf cell that is instantiated in the netlist, as well as a corresponding design in IC Compiler memory (that’s what the * represents) for each sub-design in the netlist. This “resolving” happens when the netlist is read in (described in a few pages).