Automated circuit design using electromagnetic simulators

Abstract

Recent advances in microwave CAD technology, the availability of powerful workstations and massively parallel systems, indicate the feasibility of interfacing electromagnetic (EM) simulators into optimization systems or CAD frameworks for direct application of powerful optimizers. With the increasing availability of fast, robust, commercial EM simulators it is tempting to include them both in performance-driven and yield-driven circuit optimization, to combine the advantages of yield-driven design with the accuracy of electromagnetic simulation for first-pass success. Thus, the push is to go beyond traditional uses of EM simulators for validation, for generation of equivalent circuits or look-up tables. It is to integrate EM simulations directly into the linear/nonlinear circuit design process in a manner transparent to the designer. The EM simulators, whether stand-alone or incorporated into CAD frameworks, may not realize their full potential to the designer unless they are driven by optimization routines to automatically adjust some designable parameters. This workshop will address the evolution of the state of this novel art. Expectations of using EM simulators as effective tools in an automated design environment have been raised, based on the considerable and excellent work currently in progress.