Abstract
This paper presents a new method to automate the sizing of analog circuits. The method emulates the manual design procedure. The sizing task is formulated as a constraint programming problem. Two new algorithms are introduced: First, a hierarchical structural analysis of functional blocks that automatically sets up the analytical equations for the sizing. And second, a heuristic to guide the branching process of a constraint programming solver. We achieve a reproduction of the manual proceeding of designers and at the same time an automation of the set-up of the design problem, reducing the set-up effort to seconds. The method is primarily designed for operational amplifiers. More than 20 circuits, including different variants of two-stage, folded-cascode, telescopic and symmetrical op-amps, are considered at this time. This paper presents a runtime comparison of the newly developed branching heuristic with a generic branching heuristic on 20 different circuits. Furthermore, sizing results for a two-stage op-amp with transistors in weak inversion and a folded-cascode op-amp with common-mode feedback circuit are presented to show the effectiveness of the approach.
Published Version
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