Polynomial-metamodel assisted fast power optimization of Nano-CMOS PLL components

As the complexity of mixed-signal systems grows, the challenges of their design becomes exponentially more difficult. In order to mitigate this problem, this paper proposes a two stage approach that uses accurate metamodels and efficient algorithms for fast mixed-signal system optimization. The different components of a Phase-Locked Loop (PLL) are considered as case study. First, the metamodel creation process is presented. A simulated annealing based optimization algorithmis then introduced for power optimization of the components. It is shown that the metamodel approach speeds up the optimization phase by 2000× with very good accuracy. The power consumption of the circuits is decreased by 22% for the baseline design and is within 8% of the circuit netlist-based, but computationally expensive approach.