Analog VLSI Design Automation

The emergence of complete systems-on-a-chip that integrate digital and analog functionalities has created an urgent need for automated design tools capable of handling the analog blocks-a much more complex task than for their digital counterparts. This book addresses that need and provides a fully integrated, top-down approach to analog VLSI design automation and the formation of a methodology for each level of the design hierarchy. Using the CAD framework and ideas presented in this book, readers can develop new analog design automation methodologies and algorithms that significantly reduce their design costs and time-to-market for a variety of practical electronic systems.

The explosive growth and development of the integrated circuit market over the last few years have been mostly limited to the digital VLSI domain. The difficulty of automating the design process in the analog domain, the fact that a general analog design methodology remained undefined, and the poor performance of earlier tools have left the analog world with few, if any, options for automated VLSI design.Analog VLSI Design Automation may well mark the dawn of a new era. It describes a fully integrated, top-down approach to analog VLSI design automation and presents a methodology for each level of the design hierarchy. The authors define an analog VLSI design automation flow in which every tool has its predefined objectives and interfaces. They present working examples for each tool, and demonstrate the validity of their approach by running their design automation system from the top to the bottom levels in three different case studies.Technologies like systems-on-a-chip (SOCs) have created a pressing need for automated design tools capable of handling analog circuit blocks. The ideas presented in this book are fully adaptable to various design classes. Using these ideas, you will be able to develop new methodologies and algorithms that will significantly reduce design costs and time to market for many practical systems.

ANALOG VLSI DESIGN AUTOMATIONIntroductionPrevious Analog Design Flows Proposed Design Flow and Tools Design Examples SYSTEM-LEVEL DESIGN AUTOMATIONIntroductionPerformance Estimation Macromodeling High Level Synthesis of Switched Capacitor FiltersHigh Level Synthesis of Analog Neural NetworksHigh Level Synthesis of A/D Converters CIRCUIT LEVEL SYNTHESISIntroduction Evolution-Based Automatic Synthesis Strategy Evolution-Based Analog IC OptimizationDC Simulator Performance Modeling Incorporation of transistor mismatches Synthesis Examples and Discussion of Results Concluding Remarks LAYOUT-LEVEL DESIGN AUTOMATIONIntroductionDevice Generation Partitioning and Floorplanning Placement RoutingPost Layout Improvements Performance Issues in Analog Layout Generation Conclusions and Future Directions DESIGN AUTOMATION CASE STUDIESIntroductionSC Filter Design Example Neural Network Design ExampleA/D Converter Design ExampleCONCLUSION AND FUTURE DIRECTIONSAPPENDIX: CMOS Spice Models

Sina Balkir, Günhan Dündar, A. Selçuk Ögrenci