ABSTRACT
Modern applications such as neural information processing systems, speech and pattern recognition systems, and portable information appliances for accessing the information superhighway require analog circuitry and should leverage the power of analog design in order to remain feasible and cost-effective. Most of the knowledge-intensive and challenging design effort spent in such system designs is due to analog building blocks, whereas the digital counterparts are now synthesized rapidly in a top-down manner using widely accepted Computer-Aided Design (CAD) tools. Motivated by the potential gains arising from the reduced time to market, the development of CAD tools that automate and speed up the design process of analog circuits has become an active research area in both industry and academia. There are a number of common goals behind every existing analog circuit design automation environment. These can be listed as follows:
• Fast and accurate development of analog building blocks: As opposed to knowledge-intensive manual circuit design, which can become quite tedious, automation of the design can significantly reduce the time to market. In addition, accuracy of the first time design becomes an inherent feature of the automation task that cannot be guaranteed in the case of manual designs.
