Statistical path tracing in timing graphs

Path tracing is a key requirement in providing various functionalities in a Static Timing Analysis (STA) tool. With growing design sizes and advancements in STA techniques like statistical timing analysis, path tracing techniques need to be more efficient and accurate. Naïve extensions of path tracing techniques for statistical timing analysis are found to be inefficient and inaccurate. In this paper, we present a novel Statistical Path Tracing (SPT) approach and illustrate its application in Common Path Pessimism Removal (CPPR). We demonstrate that SPT is more efficient and accurate when compared to a Deterministic Path Tracing (DPT) approach.