Variational analog integrated circuit design via symbolic sensitivity analysis

This paper presents a symbolic AC sensitivity analysis technique using a graph-reduction based symbolic simulator GRASS. Symbolic sum-of-products are derived from a graph reduction process and represented by a binary decision diagram. The GRASS simulator maintains a one-to-one correspondence between the circuit parameters and the simulator symbols, with which differentiating the frequency response with respect to any circuit parameter becomes straightforward. The implementation details of symbolic AC sensitivity are presented and the potential applications are demonstrated.