Timing Analysis Techniques Review for sub-30 nm Circuit Designs

Abstract—With scaled technology, timing analysis of circuits becomes more and more difficult. In this paper, we review recently developed circuit simulation techniques created to deal with the cost issues of transistor-level simulations. Various techniques for fast SPICE simulations and Monte Carlo simulations are introduced. Moreover, process and aging variation issues are mentioned, along with promising methodologies. Index Terms—Timing analysis, simulation, process variation, aging variation I