SHF: Small: Overcoming Nanoscale Modeling Challenges in Analog Synthesis: A Data-Driven Paradigm for Optimization of Approximate Functions

提高模拟集成电路设计领域的生产力需要开发新一代电路合成工具。一个主要的挑战是，遵循摩尔定律的晶体管尺寸的持续缩放使得以适合电路优化的形式描述晶体管的物理行为变得困难。本提案下的工作将开发一种新的方法来优化晶体管行为的近似描述，这是以适合自动合成的方式捕获模拟电路行为的唯一现实方法。该方法基于对精确模型和近似模型之间的散度进行显式建模。该研究将具体开发：(1)一个新的模拟综合框架，用于基于模型的近似函数优化，该框架能够明确地考虑近似模型和精确模型之间的误差分布，以驱动优化到保证相对于精确模型为真的解决方案；(2)一种新的模型拟合算法，为近似函数的高约束优化量身定制，这将进一步增强合成工具产生良好解的能力。该提案下的工作成果将导致模拟和混合信号设计的自动化程度提高，并导致更高的设计生产率，以及更节能和更便宜的集成电路。因此，这项工作将有助于维持半导体技术的发展和增长，半导体技术在过去五十年中具有巨大的社会影响。待开发的概念也将有利于使用近似函数进行优化的其他科学领域。该方案的教育部分旨在将该领域的活跃研究项目和研究经验与教学基础设施的创建结合起来。具体来说，pi提供的研究生课程将纳入本研究中开发的设计方法的各个方面。

Increasing productivity in the area of analog integrated circuit design requires the development of a new generation of circuit synthesis tools. A major challenge is that continued scaling of transistor dimensions following Moore's Law makes it difficult to describe the physical behavior of transistors in the form suitable for circuit optimization. The work under this proposal will develop a new approach for optimization over approximate descriptions of transistor behavior, which is the only realistic way to capture analog circuit behavior in a manner appropriate for automated synthesis. The approach is based on explicitly modeling the divergence between the exact model and the approximate model. The research will specifically develop: (1) a new analog synthesis framework for model-based optimization over approximate functions that is able to explicitly take into account the distribution of errors between the approximate and exact models to drive optimization to a solution guaranteed to be true with respect to the exact model; (2) a new model-fitting algorithm, tailored for highly-constrained optimization over approximate functions, that will further enhance the ability of the synthesis tool to produce a good solution. The outcomes of the work under this proposal will lead to increased automation of analog and mixed-signal design, and result in higher design productivity, as well as more power-efficient and cheaper integrated circuits. Thus, this work will help sustain the evolution and growth of semiconductor technology that has had enormous social implications over the last fifty years. The concepts to be developed will also benefit other scientific domains in which optimization using approximate functions is used. The educational component of this proposal aims to combine the active research program and research experience in this field with the creation of an instructional and teaching infrastructure. Specifically, the graduate courses offered by the PIs will incorporate the aspects of design methodologies developed in this research.