A generalized pareto front approach for performance estimation in analog design automation systems

Abstract

The design of analog circuits requires a deep insight into both physical and technological parameter interactions. In addition, every application of analog circuits has speci c constraints and requirements with large number of design equations, and also there is no unique solution of the design. At the same time, analog circuits are the key components of mixed-signal systems. Nowadays, not only design issues but also tradeo analysis of competing performances is considered to be a signi cant issue in circuit modeling such that analog design automation tools, which increase e ciency and productivity, have become an attractive solution for integrated circuits (IC) providers. Furthermore, performance estimation tool becomes a requirement in order to speed up the automation system by eliminating the unfeasible circuits and the circuits which cannot meet the speci cations. In this thesis, a general methodology for the performance estimation of mixedsignal systems is proposed while exploiting the Pareto Front concept. Performance estimation requires a well-determined performance design space (PDS) exploration for a given technology. Since the complexity of mixed-signal systems grows progressively, the exploration of a huge design space is required for the performance estimation of system blocks with a dramatically increased exploration time. Therefore, a Matlabbased library is presented for a fast and accurate PDS exploration. Then, Pareto Front approach is applied to the system blocks. In addition, not only are optimum solution sets extracted but also an approximate design of the blocks is obtained in this thesis. Finally, Pareto Front composition is discussed by supporting the dominance rule with algebraic representations.