Smooth operators in optimization of circuit structures
First Claim
1. A method of identifying a preferred semiconductor technology design candidate from a population of semiconductor technology designs, the method comprising steps of:
- (a) selecting a smooth structural operator, the smooth structural operator being expected to produce a substantially negligible behavioural change when applied to any of the population of semiconductor technology designs;
(b) applying the smooth structural operator to at least one of the population of semiconductor technology designs to generate an updated population of semiconductor technology designs;
(c) evaluating a predetermined performance measure for each of the updated population of semiconductor technology designs to identify at least one preferred semiconductor technology design candidate; and
(d) repeating steps (b) to (c) until a stopping condition is satisfied.
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Abstract
A method of identifying semiconductor design candidates from a population of semiconductor technology designs leverages specialized operators which are smooth in the sense that the operators are capable of producing small changes in the performance or behaviour when applied to a design to modify it. The method includes determining a smooth operator for effecting incremental structural change to a semiconductor technology design when the smooth operator is applied to the semiconductor technology design and then applying the smooth operator to at least one semiconductor technology design in the population to determine an updated population. The semiconductor technology designs in the updated population are evaluated to identify a preferred semiconductor technology design candidate. If the stopping condition is satisfied then the search terminates otherwise the steps are repeated.
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Citations
10 Claims
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1. A method of identifying a preferred semiconductor technology design candidate from a population of semiconductor technology designs, the method comprising steps of:
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(a) selecting a smooth structural operator, the smooth structural operator being expected to produce a substantially negligible behavioural change when applied to any of the population of semiconductor technology designs;
(b) applying the smooth structural operator to at least one of the population of semiconductor technology designs to generate an updated population of semiconductor technology designs;
(c) evaluating a predetermined performance measure for each of the updated population of semiconductor technology designs to identify at least one preferred semiconductor technology design candidate; and
(d) repeating steps (b) to (c) until a stopping condition is satisfied. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A computer program product for automatedly identifying a preferred semiconductor technology design candidate from a population of semiconductor technology designs, comprising:
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at least one smooth structural operator, the smooth structural operator being expected to effect substantially negligible behavioural change when applied to any of the population of semiconductor technology designs;
means for applying the smooth structural operator to at least one of the population of semiconductor technology designs to generate an updated population of semiconductor technology designs;
means for evaluating a predetermined performance measure for each of the updated population of semiconductor technology designs to identify at least one preferred semiconductor technology design candidate; and
means for determining whether the at least one preferred semiconductor technology design candidate satisfies a stopping condition.
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Specification