Typical-case Design Methodology: Concept, Challenge, and Case Study

1. The Concept: What is Typical-case Design? This abstract presents my incremental study of the paper previously published at ISQED 2007 [1]. It is expected that I will graduate in March, 2008, under the advice from Toshinori Sato at Kyushu University. The aim of my study is developing a design methodology for the advanced semiconductor technologies, where transistors are unreliable and thus parameter variations are increased. Until recently, circuit designs have been conducted under the considerations of worst-case design margins. However, deep submicron semiconductor technologies have caused the increase in parameter variations, which will make it difficult to estimate the design margins. In order to manage the unpredictable margins, we exploit the observation that worst cases rarely occur. Designers should focus on typical cases rather than worst cases so that the over estimated design margins can be eliminated. This is the concept, and we name it typical-case design methodology.