NEW APPROACH TO DESIGN CENTERING BASED ON A MULTIPARAMETER YIELD-PREDICTION FORMULA.

The new approach to design centering starts at the initial nominal values of the circuit parameters and improves these nominal values by maximizing the circuit yield step by step with the aid of a multiparameter yield-prediction formula. The yield maximization process can be established with only few iteration steps and a proper behavior in the final stage. Thereby the yield-prediction formula is an analytical approximation of the relation used by the method of importance sampling. This fact can be considered to reduce the computational effort of the necessary Monte Carlo procedures. The new approach to design centering is an appropriate design tool especially suited for all types of integrated circuits.