Constraint-driven Design - The Next Step Towards Analog Design Automation

The design of analog circuits has historically been a time consuming, manual task. The stringent constraints that must be considered simultaneously make the task particularly difficult, and are a major reason analog design has often not been automated. We believe that constraint-driven design is a prerequisite to analog design automation as it enables expert knowledge to be included in the design flow. This paper provides an introduction to the concept of constraint-driven physical design. First, we identify the major challenges in analog physical design, which we show are mostly constrained-related. We then provide an overview of the essential components of a constraint-driven design methodology. Finally, we discuss the impact this approach has on the analog design flow and design algorithms.