Patent ID: 8656339

Claim:
A method of determining a likelihood of failure of a circuit to be made in accordance with a circuit design, the method comprising: performing a set of measurements with respect to at least one fabricated component or component combination to be included in the circuit; defining a plurality of variables, including a variable having a mean and a standard deviation based on the measurements corresponding to each measured component or component combination; defining a figure of merit for the circuit design, the figure of merit depending on the variables; defining a failure criterion for the circuit design based on the figure of merit; determining a sensitivity of the figure of merit to each variable by simulating operation of the circuit to be made in accordance with the circuit design based on a departure of each variable from its mean value, the simulating being performed by a processor based on the measurements, wherein the determining comprises: setting the values of all variables except a particular variable to their mean values; determining a first value for the figure of merit by simulating operation of the circuit to be made in accordance with the circuit design with the particular variable set to a first level; determining a second value for the figure of merit by simulating operation of the circuit to be made in accordance with the circuit design with the particular variable set to a second level; and determining the sensitivity of the figure of merit to the particular variable based on the first value and second value of the figure of merit; determining a plurality of normalized sensitivities of the figure of merit based on the sensitivity of the figure of merit to each variable; determining a simulation deviation for each variable based on the normalized sensitivities and based on a predetermined maximum tolerable failure probability for the circuit design; determining a value of the figure of merit based on the simulation deviations; and predicting whether the circuit to be made in accordance with the circuit design will fail, the predicting based on the determined value of the figure of merit and the failure criterion.