Impact-Based Area Allocation for Yield Optimization in Integrated Circuits

In analog integrated circuit (IC) layout, area allocation is a very important issue for achieving good mismatch cancellation. However, most IC layout papers focus only on layout strategy to reduce systematic mismatch. In 2006, an outstanding paper presenting area allocation strategy was published to introduce technique for random mismatch reduction. Instead of using general theoretical study to prove the strategy, this research presented close-to-optimum simulations only on case-bycase basis. The impact-based area allocation for yield optimization in integrated circuits is proposed in this chapter. To demonstrate the corresponding strategy, not only a theoretical analysis but also an integral nonlinearity-based yield simulation will be given to derive optimum area allocation for binary weighted current steering digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The result will be concluded to convince IC designers how to allocate area for critical devices in an optimum way.