Symbolic approximation strategies and the symbolic analysis of large and nonlinear circuits

The authors give an overview of some recent developments in the field of symbolic analysis of analog integrated circuits. The importance of approximation (or simplification) of thesymbolic expressions is indicated, and an efficient and reliable approximation algorithm is presented. A method is described for the symbolic analysis of harmonic distortion in weakly nonlinear circuits, both for single-input and multiple-input circuits. Also, methods are suggested for the hierarchical symbolic analysis and approximation of large circuits. Finally, for efficiency comparisons, the concept of a set of benchmark circuits is proposed