A method for improving reusability of design procedures of analog circuits- Storage and reuse of design constraints and uncertain parameters

A technique is discussed for attempting efficiency and automation of design of analog circuits by preserving the design methods from the design proces s of an experience designer and reusing them. The critical point of this te chnique is how to preserve the design method with a high rate of reuse at a low cost. In the proposed procedure, the design method is expressed by thr ee aspects: (1) information on the design procedure, (2) design constraints that the designer noted in the design process, and (3) uncertainty of the design regarding the numerical values used in the design process, These are stored in the design process and are reused. In the reuse process, the par ameters with a low certainty are varied so that all design constraints ape satisfied, The process is repeated to search for a solution. From experimen ts with a CMOS operational amplifier, it is shown that the reuse rate can b e enhanced without increasing the storage cost of the design method substan tially in comparison with the conventional description method using only th e design procedure. (C) 2000 Scripta Technica.