From the Publisher:
This work covers all aspects of physical design. The book is a core reference for graduate students and CAD professionals. For students, concept and algorithms are presented in an intuitive manner. For CAD professionals, the material presents a balance of theory and practice. An extensive bibliography is provided which is useful for finding advanced material on a topic. At the end of each chapter, exercises are provided, which range in complexity from simple to research level.

Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design Automation

IEEE transactions on computer-aided design of integrated circuits and systems : a publication of the IEEE Circuits and Systems Society

This survey presents an overview of recent advances in the state of the art for computer-aided design (CAD) tools for analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits (ICs). Analog blocks typically constitute only a small fraction of the components on mixed-signal ICs and emerging systems-on-a-chip (SoC) designs. But due to the increasing levels of integration available in silicon technology and the growing requirement for digital systems to communicate with the continuous-valued external world, there is a growing need for CAD tools that increase the design productivity and improve the quality of analog integrated circuits. This paper describes the motivation and evolution of these tools and outlines progress on the various design problems involved: simulation and modeling, symbolic analysis, synthesis and optimization, layout generation, yield analysis and design centering, and test. This paper summarizes the problems for which viable solutions are emerging and those which are still unsolved.

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Computer-aided design of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits

An experimental technique is described for observing the effects of switching transients in digital MOS circuits that perturb analog circuits integrated on the same die by means of coupling through the substrate Various approaches to reducing substrate crosstalk (the use of physical separation of analog and digital circuits, guard rings, and a low-inductance substrate bias) are evaluated experimentally for a CMOS technology with a substrate comprising an epitaxial layer grown on a heavily doped bulk wafer Observations indicate that reducing the inductance in the substrate bias is the most effective Device simulations are used to show how crosstalk propagates via the heavily doped bulk and to predict the nature of substrate crosstalk in CMOS technologies integrated in uniform, lightly doped bulk substrates, showing that in such cases the substrate noise is highly dependent on layout geometry A method of including substrate effects in SPICE simulations for circuits fabricated on epitaxial, heavily doped substrates is developed >

Experimental Results and Modeling Techniques for Substrate Noise in Mixed-Signal Integrated Circuits

We describe a new method for determining component values and transistor dimensions for CMOS operational amplifiers (op-amps). We observe that a wide variety of design objectives and constraints have a special form, i.e., they are posynomial functions of the design variables. As a result, the amplifier design problem can be expressed as a special form of optimization problem called geometric programming, for which very efficient global optimization methods have been developed. As a consequence we can efficiently determine globally optimal amplifier designs or globally optimal tradeoffs among competing performance measures such as power, open-loop gain, and bandwidth. Our method, therefore, yields completely automated sizing of (globally) optimal CMOS amplifiers, directly from specifications. In this paper, we apply this method to a specific widely used operational amplifier architecture, showing in detail how to formulate the design problem as a geometric program. We compute globally optimal tradeoff curves relating performance measures such as power dissipation, unity-gain bandwidth, and open-loop gain. We show how the method can he used to size robust designs, i.e., designs guaranteed to meet the specifications for a variety of process conditions and parameters.

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Optimal design of a CMOS op-amp via geometric programming

An efficient approach to the symbolic compaction of analog integrated circuits is presented. A fast graph-based algorithm performs a preliminary compaction taking into account a set of basic spacing constraints. The obtained configuration provides the starting point for a linear program, which optimizes the layout introducing multiple device and wire symmetry constraints. The efficiency and robustness of this technique allow the use of the compactor for very complex analog circuits with multiple symmetrics and other performance constraints. >

An efficient methodology for symbolic compaction of analog IC's with multiple symmetry constraints

The authors describe a novel approach to the layout compaction of analog integrated circuits which observes all of the performance and technology constraints necessary to guarantee proper analog circuit functionality. The approach consists of two stages: a fast constraint graph critical path algorithm followed by a general linear programming algorithm. Circuit performance is guaranteed by mapping high-level performance constraints to low-level bounds on parasitics and then to minimum spacing constraints between adjacent nets. The algorithm has been implemented and found to display remarkable completeness and efficiency.

Performance-driven compaction for analog integrated circuits

The problem of designing complex analog circuits is attacke dusing a hier archic altop-down, constr aint-driven design methodolo gy. In this methodolo gy, constraints are prop agate dautomatically from high-level specific ationsto physic aldesign through a sequence of gradual transformations. Constraint tr ansformation is a critic al step in the methodolo gy, sinc e it determines in lar ge p art the degree to which specific ations are met. In this pap er we describ e how constr ainttransformations can be efficiently carrie d out using hier ar chic al parameter modeling and constr aine d optimization techniques. The process supp orts c omplexhigh-level sp ecific ation handling and accounts for second-order effects, such as inter connect parasitics and mismatches. The suitability of the appr oachis demonstrate d through an 4th order active filter test case.

General AC constraint transformation for analog ICs

New placement techniques are presented which substantially improve the process of automatic layout generation of analog IC's. Extremely tight specifications can be enforced on high-performance analog circuits by using simultaneous placement and module optimization. An algorithmic approach to module generation provides alternative sets of modules optimized with respect to area and performance but equivalent in terms of parasitics and topology. The final module selection is performed during the placement phase, based on Simulated Annealing. The flexibility of the annealing algorithm has been significantly improved, thus making it possible to more efficiently exploit the tradeoffs between area, parasitics and matching.

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Simultaneous Placement and Module Optimization of Analog IC's

A tool named SPARCS-A for compaction of integrated circuits with analogue constraints is presented. the approach is structured in two steps. First a robust and efficient constraint graph compaction algorithm produces a compacted layout quickly, where parasitics are controlled so as to guarantee that the performance constraints are met. Next the layout produced by the first step is fed into a linear programming (LP) solver which enforces symmetries and performs global interconnect length minimization. the computational cost of the iterative LP solver is modest, because its initial state is the configuration found by the constraint graph algorithm and only symmetry constraints need to be enforced. With considerable computational efficiency this algorithm produces a compacted layout which satisfies the high-level performance constraints and is feasible for practical use within industrial-strength analogue synthesis systems. the use of such a compactor allows one to relax the requirements on parasitic control during placement and routing, thus improving the efficiency of the entire layout design process.

E. Malavasi

Papers

An efficient methodology for symbolic compaction of analog IC's with multiple symmetry constraints

Performance-driven compaction for analog integrated circuits

General AC constraint transformation for analog ICs

Simultaneous Placement and Module Optimization of Analog IC's

Symbolic compaction with analogue constraints