A statistical optimization-based approach for automated sizing of analog cells
ICCAD '94 Proceedings of the 1994 IEEE/ACM international conference on Computer-aided design
Algorithm 652: HOMPACK: a suite of codes for globally convergent homotopy algorithms
ACM Transactions on Mathematical Software (TOMS)
GPCAD: a tool for CMOS op-amp synthesis
Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE/ACM international conference on Computer-aided design
MAELSTROM: efficient simulation-based synthesis for custom analog cells
Proceedings of the 36th annual ACM/IEEE Design Automation Conference
Theory of Globally Convergent Probability-One Homotopies for Nonlinear Programming
SIAM Journal on Optimization
Comparative Analysis of Latches and Flip-Flops for High-Performance Systems
ICCD '98 Proceedings of the International Conference on Computer Design
Convex Optimization
Simulation-based optimization: practical introduction to simulation optimization
Proceedings of the 35th conference on Winter simulation: driving innovation
Optimal design of a CMOS op-amp via geometric programming
IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design of Integrated Circuits and Systems
Hi-index | 0.00 |
This paper proposes a circuit optimization approach that can ease the computational burden on the simulation-based circuit optimizers by leveraging simple design equations that reflect the designer's intent. The technique is inspired by continuation methods (a.k.a. homotopy) in numerical analysis where a hard problem is solved by constructing an easier problem first and gradually refining its solution to that of the hard problem. In a circuit optimization context, the designer's simplified equations for the circuit serve as the easier problem. These simplified design equations are easy to write as they need not be completely accurate and have intuitive, well-understood solutions. Nonetheless, in several circuit examples, it was found that the designer's equations serve as better guidance than the conventional, fixed-point equations. As a result, the proposed approach demonstrates the better convergence to the desired solution with less computational efforts.