Apparatus and method for accelerating simulations and designing integrated circuits and other systems

A Monte Carlo (MC) simulator, comprising:

• a storage element for receiving a simulation model of a system comprising at least first component having at least a first input parameter and at least a second component having at least a second input parameter, said simulation model comprising a first component model for said first component and a second component model for said second component, said first component model having a first model parameter corresponding to said first input parameter, and a second component model having a second model parameter corresponding to said second input parameter, said first input parameter varying according to a first distribution characterized by at least a first standard deviation, and said second input parameter varying according to a second distribution characterized by at least a second standard deviation,
• a processing element for performing an MC simulation of said system and communicatively coupled to said storage element, said processing element configured for obtaining a first acceleration factor based at least on a first number of instances of said first component in said system and obtaining a second acceleration factor based at least on a second number of instances of said second component in said system, computing a first scaled distribution from said first distribution based on at least said first acceleration factor and computing a second scaled distribution from said second distribution based on at least said second acceleration factor, and selecting values for each run of said MC simulator, wherein values for said first model parameter value are selected according to said first scaled distribution and said values for said second model parameter value are selected according to said second scaled distribution.

A simulation system for evaluating a design of an integrated circuit (IC), comprising:

• a storage element for a receiving a simulation model for said IC, said simulation model comprising a first electrical model for a first sub-circuit of said IC having a first input parameter and a second electrical model for a second sub-circuit of said IC having a second input parameter, said first electrical model having a first model parameter corresponding to said first input parameter;
• and a second electrical model having a second model parameter corresponding to said second input parameter, said first input parameter varying according to a first distribution characterized by at least a first standard deviation, and said second input parameter varying according to a second distribution characterized by at least a second standard deviation;
• and
• a processing element communicatively coupled to said storage element and configured for:
• obtaining a first acceleration factor based at least on a first number of instances of said first sub-circuit in said IC and obtaining a second acceleration factor based at least on a second number of instances of said second sub-circuit in said IC;
• computing a first scaled distribution from said first distribution based on at least said first acceleration factor and computing a second scaled distribution from said second distribution based on at least said second acceleration factor;
• selecting input parameter values for a number of simulation runs, wherein values for said first model parameter value are selected according to said first scaled distribution and said values for said second model parameter value are selected according to said second scaled distribution;
• obtaining a plurality of output values for at least one output parameter of said IC based at least on said simulation model, said input parameter values, and said number of simulation runs, and
• characterizing said IC design based on a number of said plurality of output values and at least one output criteria.