Patent Document ID: 20130117721
Application ID: 13671124
Patent Flag: 0

Claim One:
1. A non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium having recorded thereon instructions to be carried out by a processor to perform, in relation to an electrical circuit design (ECD), the ECD having a defined topology and design variables with fixed design variable values, the ECD also having associated thereto at least one of process, voltage, temperature, parasitics and power settings (PVTPP) variables, the PVTPP variables having associated thereto a total number of PVTPP corners, the ECD also having associated thereto a performance metric, a method of finding the PVTPP corner with the worst-case optimum simulated value of the performance metric, the method comprising: a) selecting a set of PVTPP corners from the total number of PVTPP corners; b) simulating the ECD at the set of PVTPP corners to obtain a set of simulated output values of the performance metric; c) in accordance with the set of PVTPP corners and in accordance with the set of simulated output values of the performance metric, determining if at least one pre-determined stop criterion is met; d) when at least one pre-determined stop criterion is met: i) identifying a PVTPP corner of the set of PVTPP corners that has the worst-case optimum simulated value of the performance metric; and ii) storing, in a memory, the PVTPP corner that has the worst-case optimum simulated value of the performance metric and the simulated output value of the PVTPP corner that has the worst-case optimum simulated value of the performance metric; e) when a pre-determined stop criterion is not met: i) selecting an additional PVTPP corner in accordance with the set of PVTPP corners, in accordance with the simulated output values, and in accordance with a pre-determined global optimization process; ii) adding the additional PVTPP corner to the set of PVTPP corners; iii) simulating the ECD at the additional PVTPP corner to obtain an additional simulated output value of the performance metric; iv) adding the additional simulated output value to the set of simulated output values of the performance metric; and iv) in accordance with the set of PVTPP corners, in accordance with the set of simulated output values of the performance metric, determining if at least one pre-determined stop criterion is met; f) when a pre-determined stop criterion is met, proceeding to action d; and g) when a pre-determined stop criterion is not met, repeating action e.