Defining Analog Standard Cell Libraries for Mixed-Signal Computing Enabled through Educational Directions

This work presents a mixed-signal cell library built through multiple generations of educational experiences. Digital standard cell libraries are ubiquitous for commercial and academic IC design. Analog standard cell libraries are rare within system-level analog design. Educational efforts in analog system design provide a path for developing these standard cell libraries. The effort included determining the essential blocks for this standard cell library based on previous explorations, as well as constraints to make the layout efficient. Analog and mixed-signal standard cells enable compilation of a high-level description of analog and mixed signal designs to full IC layout. A standard cell library definition allows components designed in any process to have broad utilization. A high-level to layout compilation empowers rapid movement between different IC processes.