Monte-carlo based accurate corner extraction

A tangible, non-transitory computer-readable medium containing instructions, which when executed by a processor cause the processor to perform a method to size an electrical circuit design (ECD), the ECD having associated thereto design variables, process variables and environmental variables, the process variables defining a process variables space that has a distribution of process points, and the environmental variables defining an environmental variables space defined by environmental points, the ECD having associated thereto a design point defined by a set of design variable values, the ECD further having associated thereto a plurality of performance metrics, the method comprising:

• A) iteratively performing actions a-d until a pre-determined overall stop criteria has been attained:
• a) drawing an initial set of process points from the distribution of process points;
• b) for each process point, automatically simulating the ECD, at the design point, on all the environmental points, to obtain simulation performance data;
• c) determining, in accordance with the performance data, if the pre-determined overall stop criteria has been attained;
• d) if the overall stop criteria has not been attained, iteratively performing the following actions i-v until a corner performance-based stop criteria has been attained:
• i) in accordance with the initial set of process points, the environmental points, and the performance data, determining a set of corner points, each corner point having a process point and environmental point;
• ii) defining the corner performance-based criteria in accordance with at least one of the overall stop criteria and the set of corner points;
• iii) varying at least one design variable value to modify the design point;
• iv) simulating the design point at the corner points, to obtain additional simulation performance data;
• and
• v) determining, in accordance with the additional simulation performance data, if the corner performance-based stop criteria has been attained;
• and,
• B) storing the design point in a tangible, non-transitory computer readable medium.