Patent ID: 8074189

Claim:
A non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium containing instructions, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method to size an electrical circuit design (ECD), the ECD having process variables and environmental variables associated thereto, the process variables defining a process variables space, the environmental variables defining an environmental variables space, the ECD having devices, the devices having associated thereto variable dimensions, the variables dimensions having associated thereto a first set of sizes, the ECD further having associated thereto a plurality of performance metrics, the method comprising steps of: sampling at least one of the process variables space and the environmental variables space to obtain a first set of sample points; automatically simulating the ECD, in accordance with the first set of sizes, at the first set of sample points to obtain first simulation data; calculating a value for each performance metric in accordance with the first simulation data to obtain a first set of performance data; determining if a portion of the first set of performance data is outside pre-determined boundaries; if the portion the first set of performance data is outside the pre-determined boundaries, selecting, from the first set of samples points, in accordance with the first set of performance data and in accordance with pre-determined rules, samples points to obtain a set of selected sample points; varying at least one size of the first set of sizes to obtain a second set of sizes; simulating the ECD, in accordance with the second set of sizes, at the set of selected sample points to obtain second simulation data; calculating a value for each performance metric in accordance with the second simulation data to obtain a second set of performance data; determining if the second set of performance data is inside the pre-determined boundaries; and if the second set of performance data is inside the pre-determined boundaries, storing the second set of sizes in a non-transitory computer-readable medium.