An overview of automated macromodelling techniques for mixed-signal systems

On-chip and on-package integrated systems, such as systems-on-chip (SoCs) and systems-in-packages (SiPs), are composed of a complex mix of digital and mixed-signal circuit blocks. Verifying such systems prior to fabrication is challenging due to their size and complexity. Automated approaches towards extracting system-level macromodels from SPICE-level descriptions of circuit blocks is becoming an increasingly important component of sustainable methodologies for system verification. In this paper, we present an overview of recent algorithmic methods for extracting linear and nonlinear macromodels of mixed-signal circuits, and highlight the potential impact of such techniques.