SEAS: a simulated evolution approach for analog circuit synthesis

The authors present a simulated evolution approach for analog circuit synthesis based on an analogy with the natural selection process in biological environments and on the iterative improvements in solving engineering problems. A prototype framework based on this idea, called SEAS, has been implemented. Measurement results show that SEAS can handle a non-fixed topology with a globally optimal solution, is easy to adapt as technology evolves, and is easy to use. Analytic circuit models, in which a set of the design equations enables one to evaluate the performance of a circuit for different sets of specifications without actually going into the circuit details, can be developed not only for operational amplifiers but also for other types of analog functional blocks, such as comparators and A/D (analog-to-digital) converters