Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation

The intense drive for signal integrity has been at the forefront of rapid and new developments in CAD algorithms. With increasing demands for high signal speeds coupled with a decrease in feature size, interconnect effects such as signal delay, distortion and crosstalk become the dominant factor limiting overall performance of VLSI systems. Although SPICE is used on a daily basis by many engineers for analog simulation and general circuit analysis, current versions of SPICE do not handle adequately the new emerging challenges of interconnect effects. Moment-matching techniques, such as asymptotic waveform evaluation, have recently proven useful in the analysis of large interconnect structures containing elements such as lossy coupled transmission lines with linear or nonlinear terminations. At a CPU cost of a little more than one DC analysis, these techniques are 2--3 orders of magnitude faster than full simulation techniques such as FFT. Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation presents an overview of the diverse algorithms and applications of moment matching techniques. The material is presented systematically and is supported by many examples. Issues such as sensitivity analysis and three-dimensional analysis are also covered. Asymptotic Waveform Evaluation will be of interest to engineers, students and researchers involved in the development and study of circuit simulation as well as interconnect analysis. It will also interest design engineers who are involved in dealing with high-speed issues, and graduate students who are active in the development of CAD tools for electronic systems.