Trade-off prediction and circuit performance optimization using a second-order model
✍ Scribed by Xiao Xiangming; Robert Spence
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1992
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 554 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0098-9886
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
A new approach to constrained optimization which is suited to integrated circuit (IC) design is presented and is shown to be additionally capable of the efficient generation of useful trade-off information. In contrast to existing optimization methods in which the constraint functions are only linearized, the new algorithm employs a newly developed method of using optimization history data to obtain, without extra simulation, a second-order approximation to both objective and constraint functions. In the new algorithm the search direction created at each optimization iteration is based on this second-order approximation. As a result the computational efficiency has been greatly improved compared with other constrained optimization methods in terms of the number of function evaluations required, a measure which is crucial in the context of IC design. The effectiveness and efficiency of the new algorithm have been demonstrated by means of some numerical examples which are commonly employed as benchmarks for existing optimization methods and by several electronic circuit examples. In all cases encouraging results have been obtained. It is also demonstrated that the information generated during the last stage of the optimization allows the generation of accurate trade-off information valid over a wide range of circuit performance.