TY - JOUR
T1 - Expediting analog design retargeting by design knowledge re-use and circuit synthesis
T2 - a practical example on a Delta-Sigma modulator
AU - Webb, Matthew
AU - Tang, Hua
PY - 2016/8/2
Y1 - 2016/8/2
N2 - In the past decade or two, due to constant and rapid technology changes, analog design re-use or design retargeting to newer technologies has been brought to the table in order to expedite the design process and improve time-to-market. If properly conducted, analog design retargeting could significantly cut down design cycle compared to designs starting from the scratch. In this article, we present an empirical and general method for efficient analog design retargeting by design knowledge re-use and circuit synthesis (CS). The method first identifies circuit blocks that compose the source system and extracts the performance parameter specifications of each circuit block. Then, for each circuit block, it scales the values of design variables (DV) from the source design to derive an initial design in the target technology. Depending on the performance of this initial target design, a design space is defined for synthesis. Subsequently, each circuit block is automatically synthesised using state-of-art analog synthesis tools based on a combination of global and local optimisation techniques to achieve comparable performance specifications to those extracted from the source system. Finally, the overall system is composed of those synthesised circuit blocks in the target technology. We illustrate the method using a practical example of a complex Delta-Sigma modulator (DSM) circuit.
AB - In the past decade or two, due to constant and rapid technology changes, analog design re-use or design retargeting to newer technologies has been brought to the table in order to expedite the design process and improve time-to-market. If properly conducted, analog design retargeting could significantly cut down design cycle compared to designs starting from the scratch. In this article, we present an empirical and general method for efficient analog design retargeting by design knowledge re-use and circuit synthesis (CS). The method first identifies circuit blocks that compose the source system and extracts the performance parameter specifications of each circuit block. Then, for each circuit block, it scales the values of design variables (DV) from the source design to derive an initial design in the target technology. Depending on the performance of this initial target design, a design space is defined for synthesis. Subsequently, each circuit block is automatically synthesised using state-of-art analog synthesis tools based on a combination of global and local optimisation techniques to achieve comparable performance specifications to those extracted from the source system. Finally, the overall system is composed of those synthesised circuit blocks in the target technology. We illustrate the method using a practical example of a complex Delta-Sigma modulator (DSM) circuit.
KW - Analog and mixed-signal design
KW - analog circuit synthesis
KW - analog design knowledge
KW - analog design re-use
KW - continuous time Delta-Sigma modulators
KW - technology retargeting
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U2 - 10.1080/00207217.2015.1116114
DO - 10.1080/00207217.2015.1116114
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84949218490
SN - 0020-7217
VL - 103
SP - 1415
EP - 1429
JO - International Journal of Electronics
JF - International Journal of Electronics
IS - 8
ER -