An efficient method for circuit sensitivity calculation using piecewise linear waveform models

An efficient method for calculating the transient sensitivities in MOS circuits with respect to a large number of parameters is discussed. The approach uses simple circuit models built by piecewise-linearization of time-domain circuit responses. Closed-form expressions are derived for the calculation of transient sensitivities of the corresponding linear circuits. The transient sensitivity of the nonlinear circuit is then approximated as a simple function of individual linear circuit sensitivities. It is shown that the efficiency of this approach increases with the circuit size as well as with the number of sensitivity parameters considered.<>